Playing iTunes music on Sony Ericsson W995 walkman phone

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Playing iTunes music on Sony Ericsson W995 walkman phone

I've just got a new Sony Ericsson W995 walkman phone and would like to play my music (managed on iTunes) on it. I do own an iPod but its getting pretty old and battered and I can't afford a new one. Although the majority of my music, both from CDs and purchased on iTunes work fine, there is a significant amount of music from iTunes purchases that will not sync to my phone (I use MediaSync from the Sony Ericsson website). I upgraded my purchased music to iTunes plus in the hope that this would solve the problem, but it appears I just wasted my money! The music that won't sync often has "protected AAC" in its information. Any ideas for how I can get my music to play on my phone? I bought it legally, and upgraded it to iTunes plus, so it's not fair that it won't work properly!

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 4, 2009 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Aug 4, 2009 12:41 PM in response to deb89

The smart playlist shows that there are still 61 protected tracks.

Maybe they were not available to update to iTunes Plus.
This happens if the song is no longer available in iTunes.
With the protected tracks, did you check to see if you also have an unprotected track with the same name?

i'm not sure why these 61 weren't changed when everything else was.

Go to iTunes menu Store -> Check for available downloads. There may have been some more added for downloading after your initial upgrade.

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Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Aug 4, 2009 9:47 AM in response to deb89

there is a significant amount of music from iTunes purchases that will not sync to my phone (I use MediaSync from the Sony Ericsson website). I upgraded my purchased music to iTunes plus

Make sure the songs that are syncing were actually updgraded. You may have teh old protected version and the new unprotected version still in iTunes.

The music that won't sync often has "protected AAC" in its information.

Correct. These can only be played on an iPod, iTunes or AppleTV.
I bought it legally, and upgraded it to iTunes plus
Make sure you actually receive th eupgraded version and you are not trying to sync the DRM version.

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Answer 3

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Aug 4, 2009 10:16 AM in response to deb89

If the songs have a .m4p file extension, they are protected.
If they are .m4a, they are not protected.

In iTunes, create a new smart playlist.
Match rule:
Kind contains Protected.

This will show you all songs with DRM.

Also, you can select Music and sort by Name then File -> Show duplicates to see if you have the same song stwice, once with DRm and once without.

I assume the iTunes plus wrote over the old music

It should hav asked if you wanted to keep the old files in iTunes or remove them from iTunes and put them in a new folder.

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Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Aug 4, 2009 2:54 PM in response to deb89

So I suppose apple just feels like cheating me out of 20 (not including free ones) odd tracks

I doubt it. Considering that somthing like +4 billion tracks with DRM were sold to 175 million people, it's likely a few records got messed up.

Check your -> purchase history for the upgraded songs to see if you were actually charged but did not receive some upgraded songs.
Send an email to -> iTunes store and list the songs you think are eligible that were not upgraded.

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Answer 5

deb89 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 4, 2009 10:53 AM in response to Chris CA

I tried what you suggested, thanks. I'm getting there but still havent solved the problem:
The smart playlist shows that there are still 61 protected tracks. These are the songs my phone refuses to play. As I had 300+ to start with, i'm not sure why these 61 weren't changed when everything else was. It did ask me if I wanted to keep the old files/ put them in a folder. I said no, just delete them. Also iTunes doesnt display any duplicates for me, so I assume it just upgraded the song and upgraded the old version. Any ideas where I should go from here?...

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Answer 6

deb89 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 4, 2009 1:47 PM in response to Chris CA

Well, I'm still on my way to solving the problem...
10 songs are from another iTunes account (my sister's, which is authorised on my computer as well) so I might just download those again.
Muse Black Holes and Revelations refuses to update dunno why
A handful of random singles also refuse to budge, including some downloaded between january and march 2009 (was iTunes was already DRM free yet???)
The remainder are singles of the week, which arent covered apparently.
The protected tracks definately dont have an unprotected version, I searched them by name and only one copy exists. No other downloads are available. So I suppose apple just feels like cheating me out of 20 (not including free ones) odd tracks 😟

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Answer 7

deb89 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 5, 2009 9:07 AM in response to deb89

This is the response I got from Apple:

Hi Deborah,

I'm sorry to hear that you have been unable to upgrade some of your purchases to iTunes Plus in order to play on a third party player. My name is Dianne and I know it can be disappointing when things don't work as you expected and I'm truly sorry for that.

Even though some of your purchases may be available in the 'Plus' format on the iTunes Store, they haven't yet been made available for upgrading. Eligible items will be added to the 'Upgrade My Library' page as the items become available for upgrade. Please allow more time.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Feel free to reply to this email if you have any further questions regarding this issue.

Thanks for being a valued member of the Apple Family.

Sincerely,

Dianne
iTunes Store Customer Support

They replied within 24 hours as they said they would so I'm quite happy with that. If the music is still unavailable in a few months I may contact them again.

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Answer 8

deb89 Author

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Aug 4, 2009 3:26 PM in response to deb89

Ok thanks, I'll try that

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Answer 9

deb89 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 4, 2009 9:56 AM in response to Chris CA

How can I check if they are uploaded properly? I selected the upgrade, waited for Apple to send me an email, then downloaded all the music it told me to (about 300/400 songs). After syncing, the music looked the same, and there was still only one version, I assume the iTunes plus wrote over the old music, but it still looks the same so there's no way to tell... How can I identify an upgraded track from a DRM track?

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