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?