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tlinford

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 4, 2009
185
0
Edinburgh
Hi,

I looking for a solution to play wma files and do something else at the same time on my iPad, like writing notes about what I'm listening to).

I have lectures recored in wma file type that I want to play while listening to the audio... I can playback wma files, using VLC, which is fine until I switch to another task at which point the audio stops playing (so much for multitasking, I suppose VLC was designed mainly for video, so why would you be doing anything else?) .

Q: Is there an app out there that will play wma files like the iPod does audio?

If not,

what about converting the files to mp3 for something else that iTunes recognises?

I see that there are various paid applications for converting wma files to mp3, but I don't see why I should need to pay, when I can use handbrake or realplayer convert to convert video file types for free (I am a poor student).

Q: Is there a free converter for changing an audio file from wma to mp3 out there?

cheers....
 

psonice

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2005
968
0
No idea on what converter to use, but definitely do convert them. WMA files will have to be decoded on the CPU, while there's a dedicated hardware decoder for AAC or MP3 (AAC would be the better choice). That means WMA will eat a lot more battery, and perhaps slow the system down if it's doing that in the background.

This way you can just use the ipod app too.
 
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