Cannot Convert iTunes song to MP3

In article <c67e4bdd.0311191958.2fc3bd94.RemoveThis@posting.google.com>,
john_20_28_2000.RemoveThis@yahoo.com (jm) wrote:

 > I have songs I paid for from iTunes I want to convert ot MP3 but it
 > says:
 >
 > "song_name" could not be converted because protected files cannot be
 > converted to other formats.
 >
 > Does that mean I can only save to an iPod?

Songs that you buy through the iTunes music store can be played on your
Macs, transferred to an iPod, or burned to an audio CD. That's the deal
Apple has offered since the store started up.

 > I wished I would have known that before I bought the song. I thought
 > I had converted a song to MP3 for CD burn before, guess not. I have
 > lost my money; I think.

Maybe. You could put the song on an audio CD and then turn around and
convert the audio CD back into MP3s. You might lose some audio quality,
but it'll work. Next time be sure to read the fine print. :-)

--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 1.4: Best cleanup yet, gets files other tools miss.
See <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.atomicbird.com/" target="_blank">http://www.atomicbird.com/</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Cannot Convert iTunes song to MP3 

Tom Harrington <tph.TakeThisOut@pcisys.no.spam.dammit.net> wrote in message news:<tph-47DA19.10365520112003@localhost>...
 > In article <c67e4bdd.0311191958.2fc3bd94.TakeThisOut@posting.google.com>,
 > john_20_28_2000.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com (jm) wrote:
 >
  > > I have songs I paid for from iTunes I want to convert ot MP3 but it
  > > says:
  > >
  > > "song_name" could not be converted because protected files cannot be
  > > converted to other formats.
  > >
  > > Does that mean I can only save to an iPod?
 >
 > Songs that you buy through the iTunes music store can be played on your
 > Macs, transferred to an iPod, or burned to an audio CD. That's the deal
 > Apple has offered since the store started up.
 >
  > > I wished I would have known that before I bought the song. I thought
  > > I had converted a song to MP3 for CD burn before, guess not. I have
  > > lost my money; I think.
 >
 > Maybe. You could put the song on an audio CD and then turn around and
 > convert the audio CD back into MP3s. You might lose some audio quality,
 > but it'll work. Next time be sure to read the fine print. :-)

I thought I had to do it to burn a CD; sorry.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Cannot Convert iTunes song to MP3 

In article <c67e4bdd.0311191958.2fc3bd94.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>,
john_20_28_2000.DeleteThis@yahoo.com (jm) wrote:

 > I have songs I paid for from iTunes I want to convert ot MP3 but it
 > says:
 >
 > "song_name" could not be converted because protected files cannot be
 > converted to other formats.
 >
 > Does that mean I can only save to an iPod?

No. It means you cannot DIRECTLY convert it to an MP3.

 > I wished I would have known that before I bought the song. I thought
 > I had converted a song to MP3 for CD burn before, guess not. I have
 > lost my money; I think.

No -- you still have the song. You can still listen to it anytime you
want, on any device that plays music. You can burn it onto a CD and then
RE-IMPORT it as an MP3 if that's what you really want.

The reason Apple prevents you from converting your purchased AAC song
file as an MP3 directly is that they don't want it pirated. By putting a
barrier there -- an overcomeable one, but still a barrier -- they figure
they've stopped 90% of the pirates dead in their tracks, and they are
probably right.
--
Cheers,
_Chas_
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.apple.com/switch" target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/switch</a>
non-spammers can write to chasm at mac (dot com)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Cannot Convert iTunes song to MP3 

In article <c67e4bdd.0311191958.2fc3bd94.TakeThisOut@posting.google.com>,
john_20_28_2000.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com (jm) wrote:

 > I have songs I paid for from iTunes I want to convert ot MP3 but it
 > says:
 >
 > "song_name" could not be converted because protected files cannot be
 > converted to other formats.
 >
 > Does that mean I can only save to an iPod?
 >
 > I wished I would have known that before I bought the song. I thought
 > I had converted a song to MP3 for CD burn before, guess not. I have
 > lost my money; I think.
 >
 > I changed preferences to ensure I would get the convert to MP3 on the
 > context menu. But, as I said, it won't convert.
 >
 > Please help me. Thank you.

You can burn the song to a CD and then rip an MP3 from the CD

....or...

If you have Toast 6, you can covert the file to AIF and rip the AIF file
directly. (The saves the complication of having to burn a CD.) Drag the
m4p file to a Toast audio window and click the "Export" button at the
bottom of the window. Save the file somewhere on your hard disk and rip
it from there.

(BTW, this doesn't work with Toast 5 as far as I can tell.)

Chip

--
(note: email address munged -- there are no punctuation marks in the
part preceding the "at" symbol)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Cannot Convert iTunes song to MP3 

In article <c.zempel-212E7B.07300124112003.DeleteThis@news06.west.earthlink.net>,
Chip Zempel <c.zempel.DeleteThis@mindspring.com> wrote:

 > In article <c67e4bdd.0311191958.2fc3bd94.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>,
 > john_20_28_2000.DeleteThis@yahoo.com (jm) wrote:
 >
  > > I have songs I paid for from iTunes I want to convert ot MP3 but it
  > > says:
  > >
  > > "song_name" could not be converted because protected files cannot be
  > > converted to other formats.
 >
 > You can burn the song to a CD and then rip an MP3 from the CD
 >
 > ...or...
 >
 > If you have Toast 6, you can covert the file to AIF and rip the AIF file
 > directly. (The saves the complication of having to burn a CD.)

Or you can play the songs in iTunes while using Audio Hijack Pro to rip
them to MP3.

<http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Cannot Convert iTunes song to MP3