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floats in space
14 Aug 2003, 12:22 PM
I just bought one of those nifty portable cd players which allow you to burn a load of songs on a single disc. The thing is, the songs I currently have on Windows Media Player, which I copied from my personal CDs, are all designated ".wma". Can I change that suffix to ".mp3" without causing distress to my computer's music library?
IPrayForSound
14 Aug 2003, 12:29 PM
Well, you can't just change the suffix...you have to convert them. There's plenty o' programs out there, but I do mine on a Mac so I can't tell you the names of 'em off the top of my head.
Bryan
14 Aug 2003, 03:07 PM
No, MP3s and WMAs are entirely different kinds of files. But you might not have to do anything at all. The MP3/CD player I bought for my girlfriend, iRiver SlimX 350, will play both MP3s and WMAs... just burn your WMAs to a CDR and play away. What kind of CD/MP3 player (make/model) did you get?
floats in space
15 Aug 2003, 09:34 AM
I got a Sony ATRAC3/MP3 CD Walkman, model number SON DNE510
IPrayForSound
15 Aug 2003, 09:36 AM
Here's how you find out if you need to do anything: burn a CD filled with WMA files. Put it in the player. Hit play. If you get music, you're golden. If not, convert (um...convert your WMAs to MP3...you could, yourself, convert if you wanted to I suppose...I've heard that Buddhism is fun).
floats in space
15 Aug 2003, 09:58 AM
Here's the thing tho'. If I can convert those files to MP3s, I can put something like 500 songs on one CD. It won't allow me to do that with wma's.
IPrayForSound
15 Aug 2003, 10:04 AM
Very true....go here...it's got a bunch of tools... (http://www.mp3-converter.biz/wma-to-mp3-converter-directory/)

edited to add: None of those tools are bigger tools than Fred Durst, though. We're clear on that, right? Good.
Bryan
18 Aug 2003, 12:07 PM
Yeah, it looks like you managed to get one of the few players that do not support wma files. Instead Sony opted for its own format, ATRAC. You could cross-encode using the tools that IPrayForSound mentioned although encoding from one lossy format (WMA) to another (MP3) is generally poor form. It's like copying from VHS tape to VHS tape, the quality gets worse each time. But if you don't have highly picky ears, go for it.