Foolish

[geezawolf]

I downloaded some tunes from the itunes store and think I have been very foolish. Basically, i have a Sony Walkman which uses atrac files and I have Sonic Stage (which is rubbish but can't get the ml-sony thing to work). Anyway, the tunes I downloaded are mp4 files and they won't import in to Sonic Stage. Can anyone help or have I just completely wasted my money?

[navsimpson]

You're kinda' stuck, unfortunately. A less than ideal solution that will, however, still work would be to burn the iTunes tracks to cd and re-rip in ATRAC or MP3. The sound quality will be degraded, but if you want to listen to these tracks on the go, that's pretty much your only (legal) option.

-Nav

[geezawolf]

How much will the quality deteriorate? Why do itunes work with mp4 files anyway? They always used to be mp3 didn't they?

[chupacabra314]

Try to convert the mp4s directly into mp3. There are tons of freeware for the purpose. Then u can use the MP3 file manager or SonicStage to imprort them into the walkman.

[geezawolf]

Do you know any good software? I couldn't find anything that looked any good.

[geezawolf]

Also, because I got the songs from the itunes sore, they're protected. Does this mean I'm screwed?

[pata2001]

Buy a CD-RW, burn the iTunes track to AudioCD, re-rip the CD to MP3/Atrac, erase the CD-RW, repeat as neccessary. Sound quality is degraded, but most people won't hear the difference anyway.

2nd suggestion, get an iPod, and you'll enjoy better integration with iTunes, gapless playback (MP3 and AAC), and unicode.

[pata2001]

Why do itunes work with mp4 files anyway? They always used to be mp3 didn't they?

Tracks from iTunes music store has been in protected AAC format since the beginning.