Getting Napster songs into iTunes

Question

Getting Napster songs into iTunes

I have quite a few songs in a Napster account (which I plan to close) on a Windows PC. I want to import these songs into my iTunes library on my new PowerBook G4. These files have a ".WMA" file format, which I don't think is compatible with iTunes. Is there a simple way to move these songs to my PowerBook? I'm not tech savy, so please give me the steps in an easy to understand way. Thanks.

Posted on Nov 14, 2005 4:14 PM

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Answer 1

Jeff--

Level 5

4,900 points

Nov 14, 2005 5:15 PM in response to Rick Spillane

its a matter of protection

iTunes: About the Add to Library, Import, and Convert functions

Importing Windows Media Audio files with iTunes

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Answer 2

Nov 14, 2005 5:22 PM in response to Rick Spillane

Rick, iTunes for Macintosh does not support .wma files at all. The only way to do what you want is to first burn the .wma files to an Audio CD, them import them into iTunes on your PowerBook just as you would a commercially purchased music CD.

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Answer 3

Nov 14, 2005 5:23 PM in response to Rick Spillane

Hello Rick,

Chances are that those files are protected using a DRM technology and will not import properly into iTunes through conventional means. If the Napster client has a burning feature, use Napster to burn the files as an Audio CD and then you could rerip that CD in iTunes as MP3 or AAC files. To be conservative on CD usage, I'd use a CD-RW since you could always erase the disc and use it to burn another set of WMA tracks.

Hope that helps.

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Answer 4

Nov 14, 2005 5:33 PM in response to Michael Allbritton

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the reply.

I saw a similar comment on the Napster discussion board. they said that you must fist burn to a CD and then rip it off as MP3 or ACC (back to the original computer?) before the song can be transferred in to iTunes. I have copied the songs to a memory stick, but apparently that doesn't give me the ability to "rip it" as MP3 or ACC.

In addition, Jeff's comment above mentions protection. I've paid for these songs, but the properties of the song files say the are "protected WMA". I don't know if this means I can't move them.

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Answer 5

Nov 14, 2005 5:39 PM in response to KirinRiotCrash

Thanks. It sounds like I'm stuck doing a lot of CD burning. It might take me a while as I have several hundred songs to contend with. At least there seems to be a way to move them to iTunes, albeit piecemeal.

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Answer 6

Nov 14, 2005 5:43 PM in response to Rick Spillane

Rick, as you have discovered copying the files to a memory stick is not the same thing as burning to an Audio disc. Protected audio files downloaded from Napster are not supported by iTunes for Mac or Windows. So there is simply no way for you to play them using any software in Mac OS X.

So you must first burn the files to Audio disc, as has been mentioned. I am not familiar with either the Napster software or Windows Media Player so I cannot advise you how to do this, but I'm sure you can use either of those bits of software to create your Audio disc. KirnRiotCrash also has an excellent suggestion to use CD-RW discs for this project. It is generally not recommended that you use re-writable media to burn Audio discs, but in this case it should not cause you any trouble.

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