I want to download audio ebooks from the public library. This has to be done through an application called Overdrive, which I have installed. Options include both .wav and .mp3 files as well as some other formats. According to their help section, I can't play a .wav book in iTunes on my Mac or iPod. Is there a way around this? A lot of titles I'm interested in are not in mp3 format.
Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
Wav files will play on your Mac. I have quite a few of them from way back. i don't know about on the iPad, I've never loaded up a wav file because they are large. An mp3 should be more than sufficient for audio book enjoyment, and much smaller.
Do you mean .wav, or do you mean .wma? I don't know about ipods but you should be able to play wav on a Mac. WMA is Windows Media format and can be tricky to play on Macs. You can do it with Quicktime (or VLC) but it requires Flip4Mac comonents be installed. However, library audiobooks are DRM protected and can only be played with special software (Overdrive) to work with the borrowing period dates associated with the file. It looks like with Overdrive there isn't the interface to work with the Quicktime+Flip4Mac combination. As far as WMA is concerned, Overdrive is really looking for Windows Media Player and that no loner exists for Macs.
The files are .wma, not .wav. The FAQ on Overdirve states that these files can't be played on a Mac, but I was hoping there was a work-around. I do use the Windows Media Player on my Mac to play files from one of my digital recorders (my Olympus recorder opens them in this player, while my Sony opens files in iTunes), but this may not be relevant to the Overdrive issue.
What would happen if I dlownloaded a .wma book on a computer that runs Windows and tried to transfer it to my iPod Touch through the version of iTunes on the PC? Since the iPod is normally synced to my desktop Mac (and occasionally used on my MacBook), would I run into problems using a different computer and different version of iTunes?
I doubt that would work. The files themselves are designed to prevent people from using them other than as intended. I don't know the details of how Overdrive works other than when we have borrowed online material from our library. There is a built-in feature so the file won't play after the expiration period, and clearly also so people don't rip a copy of the content. It is annoying that the DRM-WMA format requires WMP but frankly the libraries are thinking of the majority of patrons and PCs still dominate. I don't think the iPod Touch supports DRM-WMA so putting it on there won't remove the DRM feature. It has to be played back with software that supports all the various protection features, and like the old-style Apple DRM you can't convert either.
Don't blame the libraries. They are having to do what the content owners say, and if the content owners are basically thinking that Mac users are are insignificant corner of the market, well we can't do much about it. 😟
Downloading .wav files
