Wma Conversion Problem

[richiepoor]

Does anyone go to the website "epitonic.com"? I can download songs there and play them back but cannot then convert songs to CD format (so I can listen in my car). I've tried the wonderful process that Christina(s) suggested for m3u files (which worked great for m3u) but does not seem to work for wma from epitonic. I cut the http:.... thread in Notepad and paste into Windows Media Player but I cannot do a "Save As" and give a new name. Any help greatly appreciated. This board is great!

[ChristinaS]

Re: Wma Conversion Problem

Does anyone go to the website "epitonic.com"? I can download songs there and play them back but cannot then convert songs to CD format (so I can listen in my car). I've tried the wonderful process that Christina(s) suggested for m3u files (which worked great for m3u) but does not seem to work for wma from epitonic. I cut the http:.... thread in Notepad and paste into Windows Media Player but I cannot do a "Save As" and give a new name. Any help greatly appreciated. This board is great!

Post your link here and let's see what's what. It may be a protected wma file.

BTW, .m3u is to .mp3 files what .asx or .wax are to .wma files, i.e. just a meta-file.

The cut and paste part of the actual address given inside the meta file refers to pasting it into the browser, not media player. It will then start the media player in order to play it of course.

In WMP you go to File>Save Media as and save it to your pc - remember where . Make sure you don't check the box for copy protection as then your newly saved file cannot be converted any more. It's possible the original file is copy protected in the first place, which will amount to about the same thing.

[richiepoor]

Re: Wma Conversion Problem

Christina(s) Thank you once again for looking into my problem. Here is a typical file. It contains more than just one http code line (I've only included one line of http so I guess that means there is more than one song on the download). What I can't understand is why if the file is protected do they let you play it on your computer yet not let you convert it to a CD so you can play it in your stereo or car? Also, believe me I do not want to do anything illegal so if it is protected how will I be able to know that? The epitonic website states at the top "free and legal mp3 downloads" so I just assumed it was "free and legal" and/or they had the permission of all artists listed on the website.

http://wm01.epitonic.com/epitonic/streams_wma/128/Paul_Oakenfold-Mystica-Bliss_(Mystica_Mix).wma

[ChristinaS]

Re: Wma Conversion Problem

Oh! I see - this is a misnamed file. It is not really a wma file but rather a wax meta-file pointing to a stream.

When I try to save the target, it saves it as a wax file, and when I edit that with Notepad it shows:

[Reference]
Ref1=http://wm01:80/epitonic/streams_wma/128/Paul_Oakenfold-Mystica-Bliss_(Mystica_Mix).wma
Ref2=http://38.117.171.135:80/epitonic/streams_wma/128/Paul_Oakenfold-Mystica-Bliss_(Mystica_Mix).wma

Live and learn. Despite the protocol still being given as http, this is yet another animal, which refers to a stream (I think it uses port 80 as a streaming port on the server - or some such gimmick).

What this is it's one single streamed song, but with 2 sub-streams most likely, to satisfy both dial-up and hi-speed internet connections - or at least this is my interpretation, for lack of anything more plausible

Bottom line: you cannot download the actual wma files, you can only play them streamed from the internet.

So all you can do now is in fact try to capture the audio using dMC Auxiliary Input.

I don't know why this web site would make it impossible to burn the music to cd in the normal way. For one thing their claim of "free mp3's" seems to amount to so much hogwash. For another thing these are not mp3's at all, but wma's, and you cannot download them by normal means.
If you cannot download them, then you cannot convert them by normal means either.

[richiepoor]

Re: Wma Conversion Problem

Christina(s): Thanks for the analysis. My internet service fried out as their was a lightning strike in my backyard on Tuesday morning or I would have replied to you sooner (just got it going again). You are the best!

[Unregistered]

Re: Wma Conversion Problem

There are plenty of free mp3's on epitonic for downloading and yes they are free. They offer wma for streaming only so all this hardly counts as hogwash. I suggest the questionner downloads the mp3 files and then burn them to CD and ChristinaS to visit Epitonic to the vast amount on offer!

[ChristinaS]

Re: Wma Conversion Problem

There are plenty of free mp3's on epitonic for downloading and yes they are free. They offer wma for streaming only so all this hardly counts as hogwash. I suggest the questionner downloads the mp3 files and then burn them to CD and ChristinaS to visit Epitonic to the vast amount on offer!

Sorry to offend your sensibilities - but when I see a claim of "free mp3" and then I get a link to a protected streaming wma - I kind of think "hogwash"
No doubt there are some free things there too - but that wasn't the focus of the post. And yes, I did visit the site and no, I didn't stumble onto the free stuff either - at least not free the way I understand it. Listening for free is not the same thing as being able to download and do whatever I please with something for free.