Confused about conversions re. m4p & m4a

[Don Nickell]

Yes, I'm a newbie, and boy do I need help. I just used Switch to comvert some audio book tracks (m4a) to mp3 and it worked as hoped. I understand that audiobooks are copy protected yet converted with no problem.

 

Then I tried to convert some audio that I downloaded from iTunes Store (m4p) but was unable to; "not allowed" or something of that nature.

 

I don't understand the difference in protecting audiobook tracks and song tracks. When I bought I thought SWITCH would convert anything to a usable format.

 

Is there any hope I didn't waste my money on SWITCH?

 

If so what can I use to make the desired conversions?

 

Thanks for any help on this frustration...

[Guest nchto]

Our software does not support M4P format files. The .m4p extension is AAC purchased from Apple's Music Store (iTune) and is protected by a Digital Rights Management scheme. Your .m4a files are not infected with DRM and hence can be converted quite fine. Switch can open files in the following formats:

• wav (PCM, ADPCM+, aLaw+, uLaw+, and others, see here)
  
• mp3 (MPEG Layer 3)
  
• mp2+ (MPEG Layer 2)
  
• mpga+ (MPEG Audio)
  
• au
  
• aif/aiff
  
• gsm
  
• dct
  
• vox
  
• raw
  
• ogg
  
• flac
  
• amr
  
• wma*
  
• wmv*
  
• aac* (not aacPlus)
  
• m4a*
  
• mid+
  
• act/rcd/rec+ (newer version of format not supported)
  
• rm / ra / ram+
  
• dvf+ (Not all dvf recorders are supported)
  
• msv+ (Not all msv recorders are supported)
  
• dss+ (SP Mode only)
  
• sri+
  
• shn+
  
• cda+
  
• mov !
  
• avi+
  
• mpg/mpeg+
  

*Copy protected files are not decoded

+ Windows only

! Mac OS X only

[Don Nickell]

Our software does not support M4P format files. The .m4p extension is AAC purchased from Apple's Music Store (iTune) and is protected by a Digital Rights Management scheme. Your .m4a files are not infected with DRM and hence can be converted quite fine. Switch can open files in the following formats:

wav (PCM, ADPCM+, aLaw+, uLaw+, and others, see here) ...

 

Thanks, but I know that now after the failure of my first attempt. But I also asked "what can I do now to accomplish this conversion?" I know others are doing it and I'd like to also. I'm not referring to using SWITCH to do the conversion, I heard there's a way to accomplish this with a WinXP program.

 

Thanks for your help,

Don

[Guest nchto]

If you can play the file then you could try SoundTap to convert.

[lorriksmith]

I'm having the same trouble. I'm on XP and have Switch 1.29. It allowed me to download two of three files from iTunes from a client and convert them and get them transcribed. The last one was playing, but now won't. I've tried to re-download and re-convert several times, but when it's converted it will not play in Express Scribe, no matter what I convert to, WAV, MP3, WMA. Can someone help?

[Guest nchto]

What kind of file was it? Is it protected by DRM?