What about all the songs on my itunes

MP3 players Sansa Fuze
1

I just bought my daughter an 8gb Sansa Fuze to replace her ipod nano.  How do I get all of her songs from itunes to her Sansa - she spent a lot of time putting her CDs onto her computer when she got the ipod and she has also purchased some itunes? 

Also, with the Sansa is it registered to one computer like the ipod?

2

Same deal here. Able to drag songs from itunes into the Sansa Fuze Music file, with the MP3 player attached via USB (onto an Imac), and the songs don’t appear on the MP3 player.

The file formats from the itunes are m4p or m4a (some are even listed as protected). And the guide for the Sansa Fuze says formats supported are WAV, WMA, secure WMA and Audible (for protected files use Windows Media Player version 11 or above.??

10 year old is anxious to use her new MP3 player, any help out there?

Thanks and Merry Christmas! 

3

It will depend on what format her library is in.  You need to look at the file type or file extension of the songs. The song file name will look like 01-song.mp3 and the type is mp3, or 01-song.m4a and the type is m4a. If you see that you can skip the next bit. 

[If you just see 01-song, that’s because Windows default is to hide the file type for “known” types. If all you see is 01-song then you need to tell Windows to stop hiding them. In XP, it’s My Computer/Tools/Folder Options and un-checking a check box at “Hide extensions for known file types.” Vista has a different route to Folder Options, I think through Control Panel.] 

Now look at the songs. If they are mp3 you are ready to roll.  In the Fuze go to Settings/System Settings. Scroll down to USB Mode and make sure it is MSC. That makes the Fuze act like a thumb drive–no authorization, free and clear. Connect it to her computer, find her  iTunes Music Library (you can see the location in Edit/Preferences/Advanced) and just copy all the albums into the Sansa. 

But that’s the best case.  Unless she set it differently from its default,  iTunes usually rips CDs into Apple’s own file type, .m4a. And because Apple does not like to play nicely with other children, those files won’t play on the Sansa. There’s a workaround. iTunes will covert its m4a files to mp3s–under Advanced, find Create mp3 Version. 

 Or you can get Media Coder, a free program that converts between filetypes. It can convert m4a to mp3. With a big library it may take a while. 

In Media Coder, look into settings and make sure you set the bitrate (kbps) for mp3 conversion to at least 192 kbps. The reason is that the iTunes files have already been compressed, lowering their sound quality (compared to CDs), and another conversion is going to compress them further. 192 kbps should preserve most of what is there. 

If she likes ripping her CDs with iTunes, it is possible (in Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Importing) to make iTunes rip to mp3. Again, set it to higher quality, 192 kbps or above. 

There is an even worse possible case, which is that her files are Apple’s evil locked m4p (P for Protected, made not to be copied or transferred.) Those are going to be stuck on her Nano unless you have “privileges”–hey wait a minute, you paid for these and you have to beg for privileges?–to burn them to an Audio CD and then re-rip the CD into mp3.

Or you might have to go to the shady side of the Internet and Google for programs that convert m4p to mp3.  Don’t pay for anything you can’t try out and virus-scan any program you want to try–there are bad people out there. 

Message Edited by Black-Rectangle on 12-25-2008 08:52 AM

4

With the media coder, if the formats are converted to mp3’s, and the itunes is also used with ipods, will that affect the user friendliness of the ipods?

5

You’re going to get new files from Media Coder, not change the old ones, so you’ll have two copies of each song. Hope you have hard-drive space.

Have Media Coder place the new copies in a different folder, not the one iTunes is using for its library–maybe even on a different partition if your computer is set up that way. You probably also need to go into iTunes (somewhere in Advanced or Edit/Preferences/Advanced) and tell it not to index every music file on your computer when it starts up. Finding the additional files shouldn’t affect the Nanos, but you’ll have double listings in your music library. 

mp3 is the universally compatible format, playable on iPod as well as everything else. 

Going forward, reset iTunes to rip to mp3 rather than .m4a, and those files will be compatible everywhere. You can leave them in the iTunes library, put them on the Nanos, put them on the Sansa, etc., so you won’t need separate m4a and mp3 copies.  Lots of places also sell plain mp3 now, like Amazon (or the ultra-cool Emusic for independent releases) and even part of the iTunes catalog.  I won’t buy “protected” files because they’re protecting them from me. 

Message Edited by Black-Rectangle on 12-25-2008 08:25 AM

6

The best idea  is to start with the CDs and make mp3 files directly from them. This will give the best sound quality. Choose 192 or 256 kbps mp3. You can use Windows Media Player or another ripping program(those with a mac can set itunes to rip to mp3 format).The AAC files can be converted to mp3 in itunes(if they are not protected), but this will result in a loss of sound quality. If the protected songs bought through itunes have burning priveleges, you can make an audio CD from them, then use a ripping program such as Windows Media player to make mp3 files from the CD you burned. If you can’t burn them to a CD, then imo it is best to forget about them(others might be tempted to do what someone else here suggests).

Message Edited by JK98 on 12-25-2008 11:54 AM

7

I didn’t realize iTunes now has an m4a-to-mp3 converter built in. I’ve edited above.

8

Can I convert a 1000+ song library on itunes, likely all in m4a format to mp3?

9

"Can I convert a 1000+ song library on itunes, likely all in m4a format to mp3? "

Yes, if they are not protected. iTunes won’t convert protected m4a or AAC files to mp3.

10

Yes, it will take a little while, but you can convert those files to MP3 format.

One of the big selling points of the Apple is that they’ve designed the things to be plug and play.  Well, you can do that if you tie your users down to one system and file format.  This is the case with iTunes.

With the Sansa, you have control over how you use your music files, and it recognizes many formats, including MP3, WMA, secure WMA (DRM), Audible books, FLAC, and OGG.

As long as the files have proper ID3 tags, the Sansa can catalog your music.

Through the forum here, you’ll find information on getting the most from your new Sansa!

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

11

Where through the Imac do I convert non-protected m4a files  to mp3?

12

You have a very valid point there.

 

I have been always thinking why people choose ipod ove Sansa. Ipod is much more expensive and without key functionalities of Sansa, like Radio, Recorder and Memory expanding slot, etc; are most of people so stup**?

 

Your post almost answers my question.

 

@neutron_bob wrote:

Yes, it will take a little while, but you can convert those files to MP3 format.

 

One of the big selling points of the Apple is that they’ve designed the things to be plug and play.  Well, you can do that if you tie your users down to one system and file format.  This is the case with iTunes.

 

With the Sansa, you have control over how you use your music files, and it recognizes many formats, including MP3, WMA, secure WMA (DRM), Audible books, FLAC, and OGG.

 

As long as the files have proper ID3 tags, the Sansa can catalog your music.

 

Through the forum here, you’ll find information on getting the most from your new Sansa!

 

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

13

@v3s wrote:
Where through the Imac do I convert non-protected m4a files  to mp3?

The newest itune has a converter build in.

Or you can search through internet to find a proper program to convert m4a to mp3.