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Converting WMA to MP3...iTunes can't do this?

rogersmj

rogersmj

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 10, 2006
2,169
36
Indianapolis, IN
I feel bad posting a thread about this, because there's so much about this all over the 'net and it's such a mundane question...but I can't seem to find the answer. I've got a bunch of WMA (unprotected) files that I want to import into iTunes. Now, my understanding is that iTunes can do this...but nothing happens when I try to add them to iTunes. And I mean nothing -- no error message or error sound, the file chooser just goes away and the song doesn't get imported.

So I started searching around for a quick and easy (and free) converter program. I've been searching for about 20 minutes now and haven't found any. I've looked through the stuff at MacUpdate, searched Google, and searched MR Forums. I know about EasyWMA, but I'd rather not pay. I'll run a free Windows utility through Parallels if I have to before I'll pay for an audio converter.

Thanks for the help.
 
AFAIK, you can't do it on a Mac, but I could swear I've done this before in iTunes on a Windows box. However, it's entirely possible I made that up... :p

Edit: Woo-hoo! I wasn't making it up!
 
mrogers said:
That looks like a very nice program, and I went ahead and grabbed it...but by perusing their forums I see that it doesn't support WMA (yet). However, the developer is currently working on it.
Click to expand...
It is a very nice program. I was hoping it did work in its current incarnation. (This version is a BIG improvement over the previous one too!)

You can try Zamzar and just do it online. It doesn't support the IV50 codec for videos though. :(
 
Eidorian said:
You can try Zamzar and just do it online. It doesn't support the IV50 codec for videos though. :(
Click to expand...

LOL oh man that would take forever, doing all of these through a web form.

I can't believe how hard it is to find something that will do this. I guess I'll start looking for Windows apps. Switch Converter for Windows works well, except for one big glaring omission: it doesn't preserve ID3 tags. Grr....I've spent hours on something I hoped to have done in less than 30 minutes.
 
OK well here's my lame (haha...sorry) solution for doing this...I'm using the Windows utility Switch, which does a great job quality and speed-wise of converting the WMAs to MP3s (I actually can't distinguish between the MP3 and the WMA with my eyes closed, which is pretty darn good considering it's being reencoded). Then I use the OS X utility iEatBrainz to re-tag them using the MusicBrainz online audio fingerprint database.

This is such a pain in the arse.
 
Lixivial said:
Are we talking about the same "Switch" program? Because they clearly define it as having a Mac OS X version, and aside from being a PowerPC binary, I can't imagine why it wouldn't work the same.

I tested it on two wma files and it converted them with ease.
Click to expand...

Cool, must have missed that. Of course, it still leaves the exact same number of steps in my process, I just have a nice Aqua interface for the first step instead of a Windows one.
 
mrogers said:
OK well here's my lame (haha...sorry) solution for doing this...I'm using the Windows utility Switch, which does a great job quality and speed-wise of converting the WMAs to MP3s (I actually can't distinguish between the MP3 and the WMA with my eyes closed, which is pretty darn good considering it's being reencoded). Then I use the OS X utility iEatBrainz to re-tag them using the MusicBrainz online audio fingerprint database.

This is such a pain in the arse.
Click to expand...

if you are using a windows machine (judging by that you are using Switch for Windows), why can't you use itunes for Windows? that will for sure copy the tags...
 
mrogers said:
...I'm using the Windows utility Switch, which does a great job quality and speed-wise of converting the WMAs to MP3s (I actually can't distinguish between the MP3 and the WMA with my eyes closed, which is pretty darn good considering it's being reencoded)...
Click to expand...

This doesn't surprise me, really; to my ears, WMA has never sounded as nice as MP3 when sampled at the same bitrate (despite Microsoft's claims of superior quality at lower bitrates).
 
Thanks for the additional suggestions; I wound up using Foobar2000 to do the conversion. It preserves tags, has TONS of options for how to re-encode, does a great job quality-wise, and it completely free. Of course it's Windows only, but that's what Parallels is for :)
 
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