FREE (but legal) MP3 Converter?

[Avi]

Does anyone know of any way to convert iTunes files to MP3's...preferably an open source app that doesn't require a credit card or other form of payment. I want to put a bunch of songs on my generic MP3 player (not a crappy iPod), but I don't feel like sitting there for hours on end re-ripping my entire CD collection.

[Daddyo]

The way i've done it, which is a terrible way but exists on your pc already, is to use itunes to burn a CD, then use windows media player (or other) to rip it to .mp3. I dont know if there is a burn count limit still on itunes though for a tune.

Also, my sound card software used to have a feature to 'record what you hear', intercepting the audio to your card and recording it. It might have been a .wav, but you could use your FL studio to do the rest. Still a pain & really slooow too.

You can convert a group of itunes files to AAC format (?) using an itunes menu or button, which I think is unencrypted, then maybe you can find a reader to convert. But it leaved I think your personal info on the file like email, maybe itunes owner, i think? There are strippers that take off the tag info, wikipedia mp3 format. I've been looking into this stuff last couple days.

Also, .mp3 has a licensed converter algorithm, so a true legal one will have to cost $$, but there is the one in FL studio (LAME?) that is free that I think has managed to weasel around the .mp3 patents. So there might be a converter based on that - that is free.

[Daddyo]

I just read this on wikipedia under Fairplay:

Announcement of FairPlay restrictions removal
On January 6, 2009, Apple announced at the 2009 Macworld Conference & Expo that it had reached an agreement with major record labels to sell all music on the iTunes Store free of DRM restrictions. Eight million tracks were available with FairPlay restrictions removed from that day,[24] with the remainder of the music store to be DRM-free by the end of March 2009.[25] Apple continues to use a number of DRM restrictions on items sold from the iTunes store. [26]

--but that doesn't mean your user info is gone on the tracks you buy, they still put that in there, including your name, email, account info. Probably everything you've bought till recently is still encoded.

There's a technology that looks like it's used by microsoft, and apple for at least their audio books, which is digital watermarking. Imperceptible audio data is put into music to identify original owners etc. So the lesson here is, never copy you're own stuff?! Sorry I got this topic probably off a bit from the original intent...

[TronFAQ]

First, let me preface this by saying I don't use iTunes and I've never tried converting iTunes tracks to another format.

With that said, check out this article:
http://oreilly.com/pub/h/3092" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The link to iOpener on that page doesn't work any more, and it seems that program is outdated anyway.

This is the latest version of a program that does the same thing:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/83959/myFair ... -Setup.exe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like MyFairTunes7 converts the iTunes tracks into a form you can use, and then you can grab a program like the Quintessential Player mentioned, along with the MP4 import plugin. You'd import the .m4a versions of the tracks, and export them as .mp3 files.

The article says that you should back up your iTunes music located at C:\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music before doing anything, just in case.

Also, while these programs are free, using them to get at the iTunes tracks and converting them like this is in a legally grey area. But there's no other way to do it, other than burning the tracks to CD and ripping them.

Somebody also left a comment saying that after using a program like MyFairTunes7, he was able to use an option within iTunes itself to convert the .m4a files to .mp3 format.

However, most of this advice is a bit old . . . Apple may have changed something to prevent this technique from working, in the meantime. You'd have to try it to find out. I'm reading that anything newer than iTunes 7.5 probably won't work.

You also might want to check this out:
http://lifehacker.com/358658/strip-drm- ... oubletwist" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But DoubleTwist seems to have magically disappeared off the internet . . . I couldn't find it, but I didn't search too long.

[Avi]

Sorry I got this topic probably off a bit from the original intent...

No doubt. I was wondering if you were even posting under the right topic. WTF?!?!

I have never purchased any tracks from iTunes, nor do I ever intend to. I'm afraid that if I did, one penny from the sale would find it's way into Steve Wozniak's pocket. As a heterosexual male, it is my moral obligation to not provide income to any man that every looked at Kathy Griffin and thought "I'd like to hit that". I just threw up in my mouth a little as I'm typing this. The movie Pulp Fiction would have been just a tad more entertaining if Kathy Griffin's character was shot by Marsellus Wallace right after he was run over by Bruce Willis...but I digress.

I just use the iTunes program to catalog my music so that I can listen to it while sitting at my computer. All of the music in my iTunes program was ripped from CD's that I own...actual plastic discs that I can hold in my hand. However, iTunes files are not compatible with most MP3 players (unless they happen to have a logo made out of a piece of fruit on the back...go figure). So, instead of sitting there with boxes and boxes of CD's again, I'd like to make the conversions from M4A to MP3 within the PC...preferably, for free. I'm not trying to remove the DRM or anything like that.

EDIT:
Thanks for the links, TronFAQ. I'm going to check out that MyFairTunes when I get home this evening.