WMA Files on Mac OSX - using in iTunes!?
 

I have downloaded some WMA Files and Can't pull them into itunes. What are WMA Files and how can they be played?
Thanks

Here you can read about WMA files:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Audio

According to Apple:

Converting WMA Files

In iTunes for Windows, you can convert your unprotected WMA files to AAC files (or whatever file format is chosen in the Importing pane of iTunes Preferences) without changing the original WMA file. Simply drag the WMA files into your library in iTunes and iTunes does the grunt work, converting them for you. Windows Media Player 9 or later must be installed to convert unprotected WMA files. Protected WMA files cannot be converted.
;)

And if you want to read the whole story:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/hottips/

iTunes for mac cannot play wma files. Only the windows version can. I did find this a couple of weeks ago though: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...omponents.mspx

For mac, stick with mp3 & m4a files. You'll be better off. Not many mac programs can play or burn wma files! I don't know of any mac burner program that can burn wma files!

:eek: :eek: :D So far to the advantages of Macs:D :eek: :eek:

WMA Files
 

Thanks for responding. I have the Mac Version of the Windows Media player but it won't play the WMA files that I have downloaded. I have even tried to pull them in to Toast but get an error there also.
So I assume they must be protectred.

AFAIK Toast won't play or burn wma files. It never has before & I've used each version from Toast 3-7.

WMA Files
 

I also have downloaded some WMA files on my G5 using Limewire not realizing that ITunes doesn't like them. After some research on a different forum, I found a file conversion program that is supposed to work. I have not had a chance to try it yet, but thought I would pass it along in case anyone is interested. I will update after I have a chance to try it tonight.

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/

The program is called switch. It's an open source project from Austrailia.

I also have Switch but haven't used it yet. Just to correct something I said earlier. There is a way you can get wma files to play in iTunes after all. See Mac HElp? How I can open zip and wma files on my iMac?. But you will need QuickTime Pro in order for this to work. Besides, despite the description, if you have QT Pro you should be able to convert the audio file within it instead whilst using that extra plug-in. I have that plug-in but haven't tried the conversion to another format yet. Only for playback.

Well, I attempted to use Switch but I was unsuccessful. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but Limewire will not allow you to drag a WMA file out of the LW library into Switch for conversion. I even tried the "Save As" feature in LW to put the WMA files someplace other than LW on my computer, but it did not work. Does this feature work in the Pro version? The only way I can access these files is through Limewire. The Limewire Library isn't even viewable when you browse the LW application folder in OSX. The library is "grayed" out and won't let you click on it.

Any ideas or helpful hints would be much appreciated.

Drag & drop into the program. But it kept coming up with errors during conversion & ending up with a file size of 4 KB. I kept getting permission errors. So much for Switch's wma abilities.

Did you try the other method I suggested? It's supposed to work in QT Pro with the addition of a special QT plug-in.

LOTR,
I haven't because I don't have ITunes Pro. I only have about 10 WMA files in my LW library. It would be cheaper just to purchase the MP3 versions from ITunes than spend the 30 bucks on Pro.

WMA File Conversion
 

LOTR,

Your tips worked flawlesly. Once I downloaded the flip4mac components for QuickTime, I was able to save each file as an .MOV file and drag and drop it into ITunes. Thanks for your help. Obviously, the easiest way is to avoid all this hassle is to stay away from WMA files alltogether as you have suggested in earlier posts. If that isn't possible, this is definitely a great solution. I raise my frosty cold malt beverage in your honor. SKOL :xirokrotima:

Cheers & thank you for letting us know it worked fine for you. ;) :cheers: :drunk:

I am following this thread intently, and lost you when you said it all worked flawlessly, when in your previous post you stated you didn't have QT Pro. Please explain further

For the first time I have actually tried converting them. But I have QT Pro. I was able to save as aiff, & movie which was equivalent to aiff & also apple lossless which I set in pro's export movie audio options.

I then went to the OSXHints article & followed their directions carefully. ie: Open the wma file in QT, Save As reference movie. Then drag & drop the reference movie file into iTunes, which it imported & played flawlessly. Since the Save As option is also in normal QT, you should find you also have this option.

* Note: I found some wma files didn't play in QuickTime; came up with error messages. And a couple others didn't have any sound. I don't know why. But make sure they are able to both open & play "with sound" in QT before trying this above technique out. The files that had no sound or couldn't open with QT, also refused to play in VLC. Yes VLC can also play most wma & wmv files, with a few exceptions. But VLC is only a player so it cannot convert.

Hello, Im new to this forum. I saved the .wma files as .mov in QuikTime Pro but for some odd reason, they would not drag and drop into my iTunes Libruary. I then realised I could drop them into my Playlists but not into my Libruary. :confused:

Am I alone with this experience? Is there a way around it?

Also, Im an album fan not a track fan. Is it possible to handle whole folders of files instead of only individual files?

See How to Downld whole albums & Albumwrap.

I just tried the process again with .wma file. It does go to Library. But might not be listed where you expect it to be seen. Remember to save as a QuickTime Reference movie, not a self contained movie. However, a self contained .mov file does also seem to work.

Arrange the iTunes Library via Date Added temporarily so it shows most recently added file. Sample image in this post: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/genera...tml#post321049

I did as you suggested Rings and the files dont show in my iTunes Library. Only in my Playlists! And I cannot drop from Playlist into the Libruary either.

Have you tried playing the original wma file with either VLC or MPlayer? Either should be able to play the file. If not, then there might be a problem with the file. Does the wma file play ok in QuickTime? Is the sound ok?

Yes, they play ok in Quicktime but I dont like to use Quicktime for music because I can only get one track to play by selecting the individual track then it doesnt automatically roll on to the next track. I dont have that with iTunes.

Basically, I have on my Mac hundreds of audio files which I transferred from my old PC. I thought I would have full functionality. But maybe Im better to start from scratch again and copy from the original CDs?

Here's another option for the .wma files. Choose Export from File menu of QuickTime Pro (Command E), select AIFF as file type. Then add it to iTunes. :) As an AIFF file it is lossless and will not lose any more quality. After adding to iTunes, unless you are hard disk short on space, keep it as AIFF else convert to apple lossless which is a lossless compressed format. Other formats such as mp3 and m4a will result in some loss of quality of the file.

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/attach...rt-aiff-qt.gif

.

There are several applications that will convert wma files to mp3's. Some of them are free, like Switch that has been mentioned here, but I use Easy WMA. Do a search and you should find several more. None of these free apps will convert ALL wma files but they do a good job for most of them. If they are protected files, you will need to pay for an app that will do that. Again, do a search and you will find several that will allow you to "test" the app. Most of them will convert the first 10 seconds or so of the file to prove that it works.

Here is an answer to your dilemma, but somewhat time consuming. Use Audacity to open the file and then export them as MP3. Make sure you list the info before you save, such as album, artist, and track number or you'll have to do that in iTunes after you import. Hope that helps!

Thank You!
 

After an hour or so of trying out several "possibilities" to convert to an iTunes 10.4.1 swallowable file format, this was the only one that worked without spending money on otherwise worthless software.

Thank You!

:xirokrotima:

One thing to add: if you have a high-quality ".wma"-file, use a lossless format such as FLAC when saving, or at least 192 kBit/s to make sure not to mess up the sound quality.

Switch for OSX is another one which can convert to several audio formats including FLAC or AIFF, etc. It is free & easy to use. :) It can convert from and to a very large number of audio formats. I do not think Switch originally had wma support for Mac but appear to have added it in later versions.

I quite happily use Switch, when needed

My main CD ripping software is XLD, also free. It rips better than iTunes. XLD is a Mac requirement for some private torrent audiophile sites. XLD supports addition of id3 tags for any format that supports tags you convert to. XLD's mp3 uses the LAME codec (far better than iTunes mp3.) Also supports FLAC, apple lossless, mp4, Ogg Vorbis, APE (Monkey Lossless), WavPack, PCM (Big or Little Endian), etc. I usually rip to AIFF first, then convert to FLAC, or to mp3 if intended for iTunes.

Yes, "XLD" is a really fine piece of software! I do a lot of FLAC to Apple Lossless conversion using "XLD". But it doesn't support ".wma" files, so I had to look for something different.

And only the paid version of "Switch" will convert "wma" files.

"Audacity" seems to be the only software that converts ".wma" without passing through Quicktime/Flip4Mac or make you pay for it. Only thing is you can't do batch conversion.

Found another one that does the .wma -> iTunes conversion job: "Adapter"

Can be found here.