Encoded (protected?) WMA files playable on a Mac?

[zen]

Not sure which forum this should go in!

I run a sci-fi website and have been invited to become part of an affiliate program for an audiobook seller. It looks ok, but the audiobooks are only available for purchase & download as encoded WMA files (it says encoded, which I assume means encrypted?).

I'm a big user of iTunes etc and know a bit about most audio formats except WMA. Are these files even playable on a Mac with flip4mac or whatever, or are they Windows only?

I seem to remember a friend in a similar position who said encrypted WMA wasn't compatible with a Mac.

Of course iTunes and the iPod can't play them, but that's another matter.

 

[darthmullet]

Nope...

They are definitely not playable under mac os X — they require a Windows Media component that cannot be replicated (it is a complicated key storage process, similar, but not identical, to Protected-AAC). You need Windows to read them. I use Parallels with Windows XP for just this sort of thing.

 

[scottlinux]

Don't buy DRM content, IMO. It's more evil than people think.

This is similar to questions about iTunes' DRM:
All over the Ubuntu forums people ask, "How can I play the $600 of iTunes music I bought from the iTMS in Linux?"

A: You can't...