how to convert protected .wma to .mp3?
 

I was on the road yesterday and really wanted to hear a tune so I bougt it from website that sells music, 7 digital or something like that. Unfortunately they sent the file in protected .wma with DRM. This is all fine and good except I want to be able to play the thing on my ipod.

Anyone know of a way to convert the .wma to .mp3? I own the license and won't be sending this song to anyone else.

For the curious: the song is Van Morrison's "Glad Tidings" from the Moondance album. I actually owned the album at one point and lost it :(. Album not available through iTunes Music Store. Blah.

I burn them to a CD and then re-rip to the file format that I like to use. In your case, MP3.

Download the whole album for $1.10.

http://music.allofmp3.com/r2/Van_Mor...html?albref=14

I'd be glad to download that one song and send it to you as MP3, drop me a PM.

To the OP: Be aware that allofmp3 is a Russian site, and that buying from them, in the opinion of many, is a violation of U.S. copyright law.

Thanks all, for the advice. The Russian thing is a bit sketchy, although 7 digital is a little sketchy too (they're in the UK).

Anyway, I actually found the song on my wife's itunes and was able to copy it from there. I guess she's the smarter one who transferred the CD into her itunes before we lost it (or maybe she's the one that lost it!). :)

There are several programs that will high speed dub to mp3 but they tend to mess up the settings on your audio card. I use Audacity Its free and a good audio program. I capture in real time by playing the wma with drm and rip it to a mp3 file by setting the source as the sound card. Works well but can take a long time.
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In the opinion of many so is stripping DRM off a protected file, you may want to mention that too.

Sure. It's a little gray if you're doing it for personal use only. I stay away from downloads altogether, preferring to own to physical CD.

no opinion, no question
 

opinion aside, there is no question that it is a violation of u.s. copyright law.

I see them being shut down in 90 days, the FCC and FTC are putting a lot of pressure on the administration to do something about allofmp3.com

As for the OP. Checkout videora, and some of the codecs that are out there. a quick google search should yield the correct results. checkout cdrw forums. they always are working on the latest WMA crack.

they are paying the copyright licensing fee to the russian equivilent of the RIAA. The RIAA refuses to take any payments from them as they say its not enough collected.
the russian government did try to shut them down once, then the investigators determined they were not violating russian law. Remember, they're in Russia, not the US :)

I hope they stick around, but I'm not holding any high hopes. I find it ironic that the US wants to deny them entry into the WTO for it, while China, with basically slave labor manufacturing nike, is a member. I guess it depends who your lobbyist is ;)

The FCC and FTC have no jurisdiction over an overseas entity like allofmp3. The pressure is coming from the RIAA and similar recording industry organizations (BPI).

yeah
 

yeah, I didn't really mean the RUSSIAN administration.

of course, part of the russian governements efforts to shut them down was they kept moving the data center around, ala piratebay.

I think the RUSSIAN administration ended up giving up more though, than failing.

Roxio used to deliver with an app called Soundstream, I think, that converts between file types.

Stripping off DRM is NOT "a little gray". It is a clear violation of the DMCA. Using Allofmp3 is more legal than messing with someones DRM.

It's clear they're both illegal. I personally find stripping DRM from a song you purchased in order to use it on another device to be perfectly ethical, even though it's illegal. I find paying a third party for someone else's property to be unethical. But they are certainly both illegal.

Apparently the copyright law in Russia is changing in September, and they're going to need to change their business model. If you have money in your account with them you may want to hurry up and use it.