missing a clue or several - I need help.

[susandennis]

Turns out I can do music but not words. 

I downloaded two MP3 podcasts and one wma book from the library.  All of them play fine on the PC by double clicking on the file.

My player (Apacer AU524) plays MP3's and WMA files.

The library book won't play on the player because it can't get authorized like my computer can.  So I figure I'll rip it to MP3.  But, now I can't figure out how to do that without a CD.  When I select 'rip' - it wants a CD. 

Isn't there a way (with Windows Media player) to convert wma to mp3 without a CD in the drive?

And... why won't my MP3 podcasts play on my MP3 player? I copied them to the player just like I do my MP3 music only it no workie. Do they need some kind of conversion, too?  The intro plays but the I just get clicks.  (I put them onto a microSD card that sticks into the player. In the player, after the intro, I just get clicks. I can take that same microSD card and stick it into the desktop and it plays fine.

Oh and this is maybe a Vista specific question. When I double click on any of the above on my Vista computer it kicks in the Windows Media Player. When I want it to stop playing, I forget to click on Stop and, instead click on the X to close the program. This, however, does NOT stop the sound!! But then I can't find any way to stop it. I have to double click on another audio file to bring it up to get the stop button. This surely can't get the best way to stop it... is it?

Comments

[sea-weed.livejournal.com]

I always use Audiograbber to rip to MP3, it's nice and simple and doesn't seem to mind if I'm ripping from a CD or a file on my PC, I just have to tell it which one. It's freeware so if you feel like giving it a try just type 'download audiograbber' into google. I'm not so good with Windows Media Player, I'm not sure if it's as user friendly as it could be.

[susandennis]

I was trying to avoid using software that duplicates function but what the heck. I downloaded it and it would not even open the .wma file or the .mp3 podcasts.

Sigh.

Thanks, tho.

[susandennis]

I even tried CDex (which is what I used to use to rip music off of cd and convert to mp3's) (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/) but I can't make it work either.

Thanks for the sending option but the wma (the one I want to convert to mp3) won't play without authorization - which I have on this machine but no others and the podcasts are already mp3's, I just can't get them to play on my player.

[(Anonymous)]

Very weird and annoying. Hopefully someone else will have an idea.

[sea-weed.livejournal.com]

Very weird and annoying. Hopefully someone else will have an idea.

[sea-weed.livejournal.com]

Well that sucks! Shame G's not home at the moment or I'd ask him, he's pretty good with that sort of stuff. I HATE things like that, they should be so simple but there's always a catch. Are the files big? You could always email me one, or the link I guess, so I can mess around with it. (mich03@pacific.net.au) I like a challenge!!!!

[nt.livejournal.com]

You would need a program that converts wma to mp3. This is the first page Google finds:

http://www.wma-mp3.com/

I'm not sure about the mp3 podcast issue. Maybe the player doesn't support the bitrate of the mp3 file?

[nt.livejournal.com]

This is a freeware converter:

http://www.wma-mp3.org/

[susandennis]

FINALLY!

The first program on this webpage is the third one I tried but the ONLY one to tell me it could not do the conversion and the reason is because the wma file is protected.

Thank you! At least I know it's not me!

[kyrielle]

Yeah, some of them are protected. I understand why they want to protect their stuff but, correspondingly, I don't listen to it. You can try the iTunes service for lots of podcasts. Might want to see if your library has downloadable audio-books online, too. Our library system does. Some of them are protected but others can be burned to CD or transferred to an MP3 device. I just avoid the ones that can't go to CD (I use them in the car...) and keep going.