[Aussiegreg]

Hi Gang

Whats the easiest way to transfer songs from my girlfriends Ipod to MP3 files so I can load them on to my old Zen mp3 player? Is there a free conversion program out there I can download?

[cwwozniak]

You need to find out exactly what file format is used to store the songs on the iPod.

If they are M4P files, they are a proprietary Apple format and have DRM protection. Songs purchased through the iTunes store and put on an iPod are M4P files.

If they are M4A files, they are a proprietary Apple format without DRM protection. Songs ripped from CDs or converted from other files in iTunes have the option to be saved as M4A files.

I have never tried moving M4A or M4P songs from my wife's or daughter's iPods to my Creative Zen player.

An iPod can also play MP3 files. I am using Winamp Pro to manage my music library and Creative Zen player. My wife and daughter use Winamp to RIP CDs to their music libraries as MP3 files and then save them to their iPods. I have no problems copying the MP3 files from the iPods to my library or to my player.

Anyway, you can give the free version of Winamp a shot. It can copy MP3s OK and may be able to copy and convert M4A files to MP3 files for you. I am pretty sure it will not be able to handle M4P files.

[sup2a]

dBpoweramp ( http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ ) is a great little converter suggested a while back in these forums and will convert the files easily, as for M4P files... i have never heard of them, i purchased a load of music from itunes and they were easily converted to mp3 so i could put them onto a MP3 CD

[Aussiegreg]

Thanks very much for your responses gentlemen. I'll give then a shot.

While we're on the multimedia subject, who would you recommend for a free CD/DVD burner? I tried Nero 7 but it's only a 30 day trial. I heard Deepburn(?) was good but then I read a review that some guy had terrible trouble with his PC after using it??

Currently for CD's I'm (living in the dark ages and) using Nero 5 which I got with my previous PC years ago. Any advice would be really appreciated.

[sup2a]

sorry, no idea, i still have a REAL old nero program, still... does what i want though...

[namenotfound]

Originally Posted by cwwozniak

If they are M4P files, they are a proprietary Apple format and have DRM protection. Songs purchased through the iTunes store and put on an iPod are M4P files.

I thought all iTunes store music files were AAC format?

[cwwozniak]

Originally Posted by namenotfound

I thought all iTunes store music files were AAC format?

Yes the format is AAC, but the filename extension is M4P. Sorry for the confusion.

From an iTunes FAQ page ...

What file format and bit rate do you use?

Purchased songs are encoded using MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, a high-quality format that rivals CD quality. Songs purchased and downloaded from the Store are AAC Protected files and have a bitrate of 128 kilobits per second (kbit/s). The file extension is .m4p.

[drumster]

If you are looking to extract the songs from an iPod to a computer then what you really need is a software like Floola. Because otherwise you are NOT allowed to copy songs back from the iPod the computer. It is only a one way process, from Computer to the iPod (Curse Apple for this.)

As far as a free burning software is concerned, CDBurnerXP (http://cdburnerxp.se) is supposed to be really good (I am using that currently). And the other free software is ImgBurn. (ImgBurn is supposed to be more powerful, but I havent tried it yet)