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iTunes m4p to mp3 converter/ripper?

So now I have my DRM-free iTunes files. Finally. I had to download about 1,000 tracks from the service in ‘iTunes Plus non-DRM (sort of)’ format.

Theoretically I can stick them on my Nokia.

But I’d like these M4P files I’ve got to be held in MP3 format. It’s just a much more portable medium for music.

So some bright spark out there must have developed an M4P –> MP3 converter? Right? That will convert all your non-DRM’ed Apple iTunes files to MP3 format automatically?

I haven’t been able to find one. Have you come across anything like this?

20 COMMENTS

  1. Make sure that iTunes is set to “import” as MP3 (in the preferences, under Import settings). Then, right click on the track and choose “Create MP3 version”.

    Sorted.

  2. I'd also like to toss in a recommendation for Salling Media Sync if you insist on using iTunes to sort your desktop music. The pro version is only $20 and it makes it easy to manage the music on your phone.

    I covered it here: http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2008/11/sal

    However, if you're open to change, I'd HIGHLY recommend MediaMonkey. It's not as pretty as iTunes, or as user-friendly, but it's miles more powerful.

  3. ummm, wtf, they're supposed to be aac files and play just fine on your Nokia without any file conversion needed …

    edit: ahhh i re-read your post. in that case try what simon said, but i would not do it. all the good name brand mp3 players out there today play aac files anyway. in fact … i think it's hard to find something sold today that does not play aac files.

  4. Sigh. Don't do it, Ewan. For everybody out there, the golden rule of music conversion is: DON'T DO IT. Trying to go from one highly compressed format to another is recipe for loss of quality and unwanted digital artefacts.

    Personally, I buy the flipping CDs. And can then rip them in a bazillion formats over the next 50 years without once losing an ounce of unnecessary quality.

    Rant over.

  5. Sigh. Don't do it, Ewan. For everybody out there, the golden rule of music conversion is: DON'T DO IT. Trying to go from one highly compressed format to another is recipe for loss of quality and unwanted digital artefacts.

    Personally, I buy the flipping CDs. And can then rip them in a bazillion formats over the next 50 years without once losing an ounce of unnecessary quality.

    Rant over.

  6. Try soundtaxi http://www.soundtaxi.info/ you can import as many tracks as you want, select convert and sit back while it does it's thing. Also works with DRM protected tracks from iTunes, Napster, Nokia, Audible etc. And the pro version will also strip the drm from iTunes TV shows and movies leaving you with a nice AVI file to play on whatever you like.

  7. why MP3? AAC was specifically developed, by the same group behind mp3, to REPLACE mp3. similar to the difference between between h.264 and DivX, AAC provides higher quality at lower bitrates – so your library can be reduced in size without the resultant depreciation in audio quality. granted, converting from one codec to another brings with it a degradation in quality by nature waveform aliasing, but if you're converting anyway… convert to AAC.

    and simopn's FIRST POST was the perfect answer. it's built-in, just tell iTunes which codec you'd like imported music to use (the setting was originally for ripping CD's into itunes) and then select a large group of songs, right click, and convert to XXX format, where XXX is the codec you chose.

    personally, i found that creating a smart playlist that finds all source format (in your case m4p) files helps a lot. then i'd select a group of songs, say 100 of them. craete a static playlist. select the whole static playlist, say 'convert' then when it was done i could delete those songs. the playlist was then empty and i could repeat the process.

    i re-encoded 12GB of mp3 into AAC (which works FAR better with music player on my N95, and brings over the album artwork flawlessly where mp3's didn't). i re-encoded at the same bitrate, but since AAC has twice the storage density, i effectively met the nyquist rate for signal capturing, therefore minimizing any waveform aliasing from the transcoding process. in short: the BULK of audio quality degradation was avoided, with only nuances of the algorithms being captured as errors in my audio, rather than capturing errors in waveform analysis (think of a car driving by, at just the right speed the wheels seem to spin backwards. that's aliasing. your eyes need to capture the image at twice the rate the wheels are spinning, or higher (nyquist) in order to properly render the motion of the moving wheels in your head. want to know the 'refresh rate' of your eyes/brain? watch a spinning wheel and record the rate of spin as it slows at the moment you perceive the switch from appearing to spin backwards to when it spins forwards. that rate is the rate at which your eyes/brain are able to perceive new images. that rate will be greater in your peripheral vision than your frontal vision (faster in the rods than in the cones, cones see color, peripheral vision with rods are black and white and more responsive).

    that was a fun post.
    -bit

  8. why MP3? AAC was specifically developed, by the same group behind mp3, to REPLACE mp3. similar to the difference between between h.264 and DivX, AAC provides higher quality at lower bitrates – so your library can be reduced in size without the resultant depreciation in audio quality. granted, converting from one codec to another brings with it a degradation in quality by nature waveform aliasing, but if you're converting anyway… convert to AAC.

    and simopn's FIRST POST was the perfect answer. it's built-in, just tell iTunes which codec you'd like imported music to use (the setting was originally for ripping CD's into itunes) and then select a large group of songs, right click, and convert to XXX format, where XXX is the codec you chose.

    personally, i found that creating a smart playlist that finds all source format (in your case m4p) files helps a lot. then i'd select a group of songs, say 100 of them. craete a static playlist. select the whole static playlist, say 'convert' then when it was done i could delete those songs. the playlist was then empty and i could repeat the process.

    i re-encoded 12GB of mp3 into AAC (which works FAR better with music player on my N95, and brings over the album artwork flawlessly where mp3's didn't). i re-encoded at the same bitrate, but since AAC has twice the storage density, i effectively met the nyquist rate for signal capturing, therefore minimizing any waveform aliasing from the transcoding process. in short: the BULK of audio quality degradation was avoided, with only nuances of the algorithms being captured as errors in my audio, rather than capturing errors in waveform analysis (think of a car driving by, at just the right speed the wheels seem to spin backwards. that's aliasing. your eyes need to capture the image at twice the rate the wheels are spinning, or higher (nyquist) in order to properly render the motion of the moving wheels in your head. want to know the 'refresh rate' of your eyes/brain? watch a spinning wheel and record the rate of spin as it slows at the moment you perceive the switch from appearing to spin backwards to when it spins forwards. that rate is the rate at which your eyes/brain are able to perceive new images. that rate will be greater in your peripheral vision than your frontal vision (faster in the rods than in the cones, cones see color, peripheral vision with rods are black and white and more responsive).

    that was a fun post.
    -bit

  9. Being Linux-based I use SoundConverter when I need to convert audio (which isn't that often really). It can happily read m4p and AAC (and a bunch of other formats too). I tend to store all my audio of OGG or FLAC format, except the stuff that goes on my iPod which I pre-convert to MP3 or AAC. And like some other posters, I tend to buy CDs (and my extractor converts straight o MP3 if I want), and haven't used (nor needed to use) iTunes for more than 4 years (and that includes managing the audio and video content – with covers – on my iPod).

  10. Yes, but Steve's comments about lost quality still stand. Having said that coming from a lossless format to MP3 for playback on mobile devices is probably OK for most people's ears.

  11. Yes, but Steve's comments about lost quality still stand. Having said that coming from a lossless format to MP3 for playback on mobile devices is probably OK for most people's ears.

  12. Yes, but Steve's comments about lost quality still stand. Having said that coming from a lossless format to MP3 for playback on mobile devices is probably OK for most people's ears.

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