more techie help please

blue · Post by **blue** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:07 pm

Sorry to be a pain, but can any of the board techies help me with this?

I have a load of music tracks stored on DVD discs as M4A files. These were made for me by a pal, and on my old laptop I used to be able to listen to them via Winamp. I couldn't store them on the machine. Now on my new Sony laptop there's a programme called Sonic Stage pre-installed, and with this I can transfer music tracks from the laptop to mini-disc via my Net MD player, which is obviously a boon. However, when I try to import these M4A files into Sonic Stage nothing happens. I'm assuming I would have to convert the files to MP3 first. Can anyone tell me how to do that?

Post by **sound world** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:25 pm

SonicStage is a famous disaster area for MDs,notoriously horrible software.How about going to one of the MD forums? Best is http://www.minidisc.org/index.php
Look around that site for some knowledge.
I know that with my Mac you can ONLY d/l mp3s onto the NetMD,so,yes,they might have to be converted.
Do you have iTunes? If so it's easy,drag the tracks into iTunes,select them all,click on 'Advanced',then 'Convert selection to mp3'.Presumably WinAmp or whatever has something similar?

Post by **Franck** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:27 pm

After a google search, I found that M4A is the Apple audio format... then it seems you can convert M4A to mp3 via iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/).
In iTunes, you select your files, and choose convert to mp3 on the advanced menu on top.

hope it's useful

Post by **sound world** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:29 pm

Hehe,once again two posters say the same thing,the perils of posting in the same two minutes.

I'd add that you need to know where iTunes puts its files on your computer (once again,easy on a Mac but I dunno on Windoze).The m4as remain in the iTunes window after conversion,the separate new mp3s are put in your 'Music' file or wherever iTunes puts its files.
Meanwhile I'm sure there's plenty of free downloadable software to convert m4as if this doesn't help.

Post by **alx5962** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:59 pm

which version of Sonic Stage do you have ?
Is there an option to import in the menu ? if yes try to import your tracks

http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/soni ... age_dl.asp
to download the latest version

blue · Post by **blue** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:36 pm

Thanks for the comments, guys.

I have absolutely no idea about iTunes - never been there, don't know how it works, thought it was only for Apple machines.

Alex, the Sonic Stage software has a file converter included, but I couldn't see M4A files listed as among those that can be converted. I've tried importing them into the programme and it doesn't work, although I've been able to listen to the tracks by changing the 'which programme to open' from Windows Media to Sonic Stage. I'd just like to be able to store some tracks on the laptop, and possibly transfer to mini-disc later, rather than have to put the DVDs in each time.

Dave, I have to say that what I've seen of Sonic Stage so far I really like! I've already imported a load of mp3s into it quickly and easily, it seems fairly easy to understand and work with.

wirbel · Post by **wirbel** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:14 pm

No iTunes?

I thought everybody was using that instead of Winamp nowadays

But it's only since everybody was using it at work that i've starting to use it myself; it looked quite difficult at first... But now i'm more into storing complete albums on my harddisk and looking for the album covers, so I can browse through the pictures..

So it has changed my use of music on the pc from single mp3's to a collection of albums

Post by **sound world** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:17 pm

Try this,Beth,free Download:-
http://www.mp3-cd-converter.com/convert ... o_mp3.html
And there's loads more where that came from.(I Googled 'Convert m4a to mp3'.)

Post by **alx5962** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:24 pm

my previous link of the latest sonic stage is useful you know

as you can import your precious files directly as described on the website

blue · Post by **blue** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:29 pm

I'm a little nervous - well, extremely nervous

- about downloading programmes I don't understand from the 'net, Dave. That's why I came here to ask Alex and co. if there was a way to do it that involves something I'm more familiar with. I really don't want to f*uck up my new machine.

Thanks for the link anyway and I will give it a go if I can't find another way. I might just download Winamp again as I'm familiar with that, if you can convert M4A to mp3 on that it should be OK.

I never quite got to grips with what iTunes was all about, I suppose because I didn't think you could use it with Windows. Also I thought you had to pay to use it?

Post by **sound world** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:34 pm

No no,iTunes is just a jukebox of whatever you put on it,but it also has a link to the iTunes STORE which is where money comes in-a legal way of DLing music,you buy tracks and they DL onto your comp.
I don't know if Windows users have to pay for iTunes.It comes free with any Mac.

blue · Post by **blue** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:39 pm

alx5962 wrote:my previous link of the latest sonic stage is useful you know
as you can import your precious files directly as described on the website

Won't it mess things up if I download a version of it when it's already installed on the machine? I get a security warning coming up when I click that link.

Post by **alx5962** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:17 am

blue wrote:
alx5962 wrote:my previous link of the latest sonic stage is useful you know
as you can import your precious files directly as described on the website
Won't it mess things up if I download a version of it when it's already installed on the machine? I get a security warning coming up when I click that link.

no worries, it's from the official website

softwares manage well previous version at install time so no worries here too

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:50 am

Do you have any idea why I'm getting a warning when I click the link then, Alex? I'm reluctant to go past that so I haven't read what it says on the site, does the latest version definitely convert M4A to mp3?

I hate the way computers make me feel like a terrified five year old.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:44 am

Well I've downloaded Winamp, but I can't see how to convert files on it. No point having three media players so I'll just get rid of it again.