I have another kids mp3 player question....

[mommydama]

I may sound like a complete idiot, but can I put songs I've bought from itunes on any mp3 player that I own? Brad has an ipod nano, and before he left, he put all the songs we had in our itunes (some bought from itunes, a lot transfered from CDs we owned) onto his ipod. Can I put them on another mp3 player? If so, will it work with any mp3 player or only ipods? I'm so confused. I've been looking at the Creative Zen V for Maria for her half-birthday and it looks like it would be perfect and affordable and is very highly rated. But I want to understand what I'm getting. Am I going to have to download napster or something onto this computer and buy all her songs again? I sure hope not. Don't I OWN those songs now? I paid for them on itunes or wherever. I want to know what I'm doing before I purchase an mp3 player for her.

Comments

[dan111174.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no. Songs bought from the iTunes store use a format called protected AAC (exception here is "iTunes plus" which is a higher quality and DRM free). This is tied to the iPod family and not licensed to other players. Most other songs imported from CD's should transfer, but it would be hard to say for sure without looking at your import settings in iTunes. For maximum compatibility it should import songs as mp3's. I accidentally had mine importing in a different format, so I just finished the laborious task of re-importing them all as mp3's and at a higher quality. The DRM stuff is stupid, and there are ways around it, but frankly none of them are simple. There is a company working on "freeing" your iTunes music, but they have not posted a mac version yet. http://doubletwist.com/dt/Home/FAQ.dt#q6

If I find something I really like on iTunes now I check Amazon's DRM free downloads or buy the disc. At first the DRM didn't bother me. But when I went to burn a bunch of MP3's to play on my stereo at work none of the iTunes stuff would burn. That's when I started to realize the pitfalls of DRM.

To solve the problem in the meantime perhaps you might consider a refurb iPod from the Apple online store? That would ensure easy syncing, compatibility with your iTunes purchases, and save some dinero.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

The biggest problem I have with buying her an ipod is I'd like to be able to download audio books for her. From what I've read, you can't do that on an ipod.

[librissimma.livejournal.com]

We've downloaded several audiobooks to ipod. Both books we bought from itunes and cds I own myself. I've not had problems so long as I've worked within the boundaries.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

If you use Audible, you can. Unfortunately, the services libraries tend to be affiliated with don't tend to be iPod compatible.

follow up

[dan111174.livejournal.com]

the easy way around the DRM is to burn the protected songs to a CD or CD-RW as a normal Audio CD and re-import them. Of course, you'll take a hit on sound quality. But the average person will likely not notice much, if at all.

[viggorlijah.livejournal.com]

There are some pretty easy anti-drm ripping software solutions that will deal with that. Let me know what your mp3 player software hardware and computer system are and I can look it up.

This is one reason DRM sucks. My kids have a Wii bought by their grandparents in New Zealand that refuses to play Asia-region games, so instead of buying legit ones, I have to either download pirate ones or order them at nearly twice the cost from Australia. Idiotic.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what you need to know. I have an imac, and I'm looked at the Creative Zen V as an mp3 player. I guess I'll have to wait and buy it to see what the software is? I'm feeling more ignorant by the second.

[viggorlijah.livejournal.com]

Download this:
http://www.wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/

and see if it works on your particular imac. If it does, then you should be able to plug your zen in and access it easily.

These are the zens it works with:
http://www.wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/device-list.html

Creative stuff is designed to work on Windows, so iTunes doesn't work with it. Windows Media Player has a mac version and you can use that with the Zen as a sort of thumb drive, but to get your iTunes store music over to it, you would have to extract the files from their iTunes-compatible AAC format and re-encode them, which is kinda tedious and annoying.

Software like this:
http://www.nesfield.co.uk/synctunes/

Can help, but it might not work with DRMish stuff.

Basically, if you want it to work without thinking or fiddling, you need to get an iPod. If you don't mind not using the iTunes store, or when you use it, working with t least one extra music application, go for the Creative.

[justamy.livejournal.com]

I know how. And, if you can wait, I can show you how when I am in KC in a month or so.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I can wait until her birthday party (around June 24th). I know some of our music will transfer because I didn't buy it from itunes (am I understanding that right?) The stuff I bought from itunes is what won't transfer, correct? So I guess we could wait longer...I'm pretty sure all her favorite stuff, from Hannah Montana, et al, is ripped from CD. But did I need to make sure it was in the right format when we ripped it? GAH! I feel so ignorant!

[dan111174.livejournal.com]

open iTunes. Under the iTunes menu at the top of the screen select preferences. The prefs window will open up. Click on the gear like icon that says "advanced". Now click the button that says "importing". If it says Import using "MP3 Encoder" you are fine. If it says something else post it here.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I found those instructions on a website and did that today. So everything I've downloaded up to this point was in another format, correct? So do I go through it all one song at time and change it or what? I know I can't change the ones we bought from itunes, but we imported a ton of music to this computer as soon as we set it up and before Brad left.

I've pretty much decided to just buy her an ipod. It is going to be way to complicated otherwise. I think Creative has a wonderful product but it looks like it only works with Windows so it really isn't worth it to me to mess with it.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Oh, and should I change it back if I'm going to be using an ipod anyway? Does the format matter with itunes and an ipod?

[dan111174.livejournal.com]

Let me guess....AAC? That's what I did, too, and why I just re-imported everything as MP3's. Transcoding from, say AAC to MP3 is a "lossy" process. Like making a tape of a tape. So the sound will be crappier. I'd set iTunes to import from now on using the MP3 encoder at the higher quality. Most everything can (and will) be able to play MP3. It's the safest bet. At least until the RIAA let's Apple free the music it sells....

Such is the crappy Big Brother world we live in...

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

I love my Creative MP3 player because I can download books from our library's digital library. Can't do that with an iPod. :) (It's more DRM stuff...)

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

That was one of the the things I liked about NOT getting an ipod. I could download books for her.

[viggorlijah.livejournal.com]

you can definitely get books on an iPod - I download 'em all the time and have a bunch on my sansa and my ipod.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

I know, but not free from the public library! That is frustrating. Actually there is librivox too. I just think the creative zen V plus is PERFECT for her (and my pocketbook!) I could get her speakers, a pink cover, AND some music downloads for the price of the nano all alone. Very annoying.