Windows Media Player

matthais · 10-11-07, 02:48 AM

I ripped several cds to windows media player not realizing that it defaulted as wma protected. I synced with windows media player to my sd card 2 gb worth of music. I went to play them on my axim x51v. The ones that show up as protected will not play.

To my discovery, I could sync an entire wma protected album to my pda and it worked AWESOME. Since I have limited space for music, I thought that I would then just move it over to my sd card either via activesync or through the pda. When I played it from the new location, the sd card, it gave a error corrupt or license didnt transfer message.

I have gone to mobile windows media player faq and found that mobile doesnt like it protected unless the license copies. I dont understand what I did wrong. The license copied fine straight to the pda but not to the sd card through memory card reader, active sync, or tranferring via pda file explorer.

The other alternative was to try and re ripp all of the cd's back to windows media player in the mp3 format.

Before I spend more hours on this, can anyone offer any suggestions or advice. What I found on google was several hits but they basically told me to record cds and then re ripp them. I didnt want to waste all of my cds nor spend all of the time doing such if there were other alternatives.

Thank you so much for your advice!

Marksman · 10-11-07, 04:56 AM

The problem you are having is not because you are doing something wrong, it's just because the files you are trying to copy are DRM-protected. And that protection doesn't allow you to listen to them on another computer or device. You can do that burning/ripping action, but it takes too much time and is not that "acurate".
Or you can use a software that converts your files into un-protected files to do whatever you want with them(personal use only of course). This is the method I use, very simple and easy to use. The software I use is called Tunebite. It is the best at the moment, but it costs a few bucks :/.

Tell me if it helped ;)

**radimus** · 10-11-07, 06:17 AM

sync to the memory card, not the PPC. there should be a hidden METADATA folder that contains the license data

I just posted a tutorial for this yesterday

spunker88 · 10-11-07, 07:45 AM

Just rip them in wma not protected. It will be easier to get them working that way. I had this happen to me once, and the error sayed something about using non-protected ones instead.

Julie · 10-11-07, 11:49 AM

I agree with Spunker. You can change a setting within Windows Media Player before your rip the CDs again so they are unprotected. Then you don't have to worry about any kind of digital rights and you won't have to sync the files either. You can just copy them directly to your storage card (via USB card reader if your computer does not have a storate card slot).

Open up Windows Media Player. Select Tools > Options > Rip Music tab
Remove the checkmark in the box next to "Copy protect music."

Or you could just rip the music to mp3. This removes that option and makes a smaller file size.

Marksman · 10-11-07, 01:20 PM

What you guys are saying involves CD-ripping so you are wasting cd's for that, or time with a RW.
I still say that my method is less time consuming, but it's a matter of opinion after all :)

Julie · 10-11-07, 02:25 PM

No, no CDs involved, except for the one that is being ripped. You rip the CD to your hard drive. Then copy it to a storage card.

NeoGrandizer · 10-11-07, 09:29 PM

The solutions regarding the CDs is for music you bought online which are in wma-drm format. Only way to strip the drm is to burn it as a audio CD and rip it back into your comp in whatever format you prefer. AGAIN, this is if you bought your music ONLINE.

matthais,

Do what spunker says. Delete the files that you ripped from your CD collection that were in drm format. Then rip the cd again in another format or remove the copy protection from the options within Windows Media Player (if you still want them in wma format).

matthais · 10-11-07, 10:52 PM

Thank You for your help on this! None of the music was purchased online, all came from store bought cds. I had no idea that my windows media player was automatically defaulted as wma protected. I wish that I had known that earlier on.

Julie, what you said seems less time involved than recopying or re ripping all cd's, however, I am still a little confused as to how to do it the way you suggested.

Thank you NeoGrandizer, what you said does make sense and of course I would be guaranteed quality and format in your suggestion.

Would using the tunebite as previously mentioned or doing the way that Julie suggested loose any quality of sound?

I have one other question that still baffles me. Why did it sync straight to axim and work but not to the sd card? I tried copying to sd card through reader and then also via moving once on axim and both times yielded the error. Just curious.

Again, thank you for your time and suggestions!!!!

Julie · 10-11-07, 11:08 PM

Originally Posted by matthais

Julie, what you said seems less time involved than recopying or re ripping all cd's, however, I am still a little confused as to how to do it the way you suggested.

I'm afraid you'll still have to re rip the CDs. Just be sure you change the setting first.

Originally Posted by matthais

Would using the tunebite as previously mentioned or doing the way that Julie suggested loose any quality of sound?

I am not familiar with this software, but I think it removes the DRM protection from music. So, if you really, really don't want to re rip your CDs, this could be an option for you if you want to buy this software.

Marksman · 10-12-07, 04:23 AM

The Tunebite software is basicly a converter. Whatever music you can play on your computer, it can convert to whatever format you want and gets rid of the protection too. As for the quality loss, there is almost none, except for the transcoding process(changing the format) which isn't noticeable anyway.

But maybe in your case the re-ripping would be a better option. I am using Tunebite with online purchased music.