Luddite that I am I just got around to using an iPod nano I won a few years back. A friend of mine loaded it with a few hundred songs from when he converted his albums some years back.
I've heard some horror stories about iTunes wiping out music and whatnot, so how can I safely convert these over to mp3 and play them in other apps?
Apple has an app available to convert their format to .mp3. Its not terribly friendly, but apparently it does work.
You can also find other converters on the web for this. I played with a couple last year when my wife got an IPod from her aunt, and wanted to download from Itunes, but then also wanted to play them on her other player. It was a pain in the ass, frankly.
Here's a link to the converter page:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mp3-c...63687032?mt=12
You're going to have to get them off the iPod first, which is something Apple pretty specifically set up not to be possible through Apple software or the Windows or Mac desktop interfaces. I couldn't find a free option, but a program called iPod2PC worked for me. It's simultaneously cheap in the greater scheme of things and way more than I ever wanted to pay for a single purpose app that I have used once and will probably never need to use ever again.
Thanks for the advice. I'll check it out.
Also, see if MediaMonkey can help pull the...uh...M4A files out of your ipod.
I really hate to be That Guy, but I am wondering how people would react if I said "I bought a computer, and my friend loaded it with a bunch of games he ripped from his discs a few years back."Originally Posted by Joe O'Malley
However, in terms of technology, iTunes will happily convert m4a files to standard MP3. It's in Preferences->General->Import Settings.
Since he bought all those CDs and albums I doubt they'd have much trouble.
You appear to intentionally being that guy, not hating the role at all.
Thatns. I'll look at it.
I think the implication of what petern quoted (and then exaggerated) (second parenthetical to note that I now see he was quoting you) was that the CDs/theoretical games were purchased by Person A, then given to Person B via electronic copies, which is a form of piracy (albeit a very "oldschool" one).
It's probably a step below the "Dad sharing Diablo 3 account with his kid" level on the Qt3 hivemind's piracy Okay-O-Meter, but I don't think that peterb was purposefully being a dick for no reason.
Fair enough, if he thought I was pirating. These are albums and CDs copied on request, and I already own copies of them. I just never copied them off the albums/discs myself and my friend did. We've been friends since junior high, so our old album collections are pretty similar.
I don't think it's piracy to have a copy of a song that you own the hard media for.
Of course not; that fact just wasn't clear from your initial statement.
If you have the original CDs, it might be quicker and better to let the new software for whatever mp3 device do the CD ripping. The digital format of the files will be correct (ogm LOL), and maybe it can download and set all relevant metadata for you automatically (especially album cover picture). Doesn't everyone have 48x CD drives & Duo Cores by now? Ripping takes like 5 minutes or less.
Also doesn't converting from an m4a to mp3 result in a lower quality file than going directly from a CD to an mp3?
I'm assuming Apple did some kind of ripping of the original CD source to get to their m4a, and at least as I understand it (could be wrong) a second layer of lossy compression is going to make things worse.
If you're willing to put the time into it, I think you'll have higher quality files ripping the CDs yourself -- or someone who knows about compression more, correct me if I'm wrong here.
Before I bothered converting anything I'd make sure they can't be played as is. Then I'd copy them, as files, to a backup location. Then I'd see if Itunes could just export them as MP3s, if that's what you need. If Itunes mucks it up, so what you've got backups.
ydejin: You are correct. Converting from one lossy format to another makes the quality progressive worse. It's like applying a hazy filter or a newsprint picture filter over and over again on the same picture...it's gonna look nothing like the original after a few passes.
You should start with a lossless format, such as the original CD, or FLAC, or APE, or Apple Lossless, etc.
I ended up using WinAmp. It took about 3 minutes to make the swap. Time is always a problem for me. Ripping my collection hasn't happened in the past ten years, so I doubt I'd do it now. Also, I don't have a functioning turntable these days, so the albums would be completely problematical.
Thanks for the assist!
LOL I have a working turntable but no receiver with a phono preamp. Luckily, there's been a resurgence in record players. The ones in Futureshop even have USB interfaces built-in. I just need to go buy one.
I've seen these. Around a hundred bucks, basically two arms with the album resting on one and the stylus on the other. USB in the back. Pretty sharp.
You can choose which version you want to upload the files as when you add new music.
Also you can dump your Ipod's music on to your computer.
Google it, some nerds figured out how to do it within a few months of the the release of the original Ipods.
You could buy a USB pre-amp and rip directly to pc from your existing turntable. I have one of these and it's pretty versatile.
Can I use that thing as a normal pre-amp (turntable to receiver), bypassing the computer?
It's on sale right now in Canada Computers for CAD $30 only, for 2 more days!
I think so due to the external audio-out jacks, but its only power source is USB, so it will need to be plugged into something. Not sure if a "wall charger" with a USB plug will work, but the cord on it is very generous.
Bought & tried it out. Using a wall USB adapter, the USB light is not lit, but the preamp works...kind of. I plugged the line out into the computer, and the signal seems to be very quiet. (Yes, the switch is on phono. I used it normally on the computer & Audacity, and the input signal is nice and loud.) I'll try using it on a actual receiver tomorrow and see what happens. Stay tuned!
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