Can't seem to find a true free converter for converting M4A files to MP3. If anyone knows of a site or program I would appreciate it.

Thanks

2/16/2008 10:23:27 PM

Found one called Switch from NCH Software that seems to be working so far.

2/16/2008 10:31:25 PM

iTunes

2/17/2008 12:12:15 PM

^ = proprietary = teh suck

I've found a couple free converters just through google, even though most of them are free trials. Most you can just use for a month or so until they expire, then delete the program and redownload.

[Edited on February 17, 2008 at 12:23 PM. Reason : gobble]

2/17/2008 12:22:52 PM

Proprietary?

It's a free program that is capable of converting an open-standard format to another open-standard format.
It can perform any conversion of mp3, m4a, wav, aiff, and alc.
If something else is faster or better quality, be my guest. But it's free, easy, and will not expire on you.

2/17/2008 5:07:54 PM

^While you make a valid point, it's iTunes...

2/17/2008 6:16:14 PM

^^iTunes is a bit large to download for just converting purposes.

2/17/2008 6:23:48 PM

whoa whoa whoa, when did they start converting from m4a to mp3? I've never heard of that, unless it's something from one of their very old versions, or within the past couple months they've stuck it in their latest version. I had gotten rid of it, too much background processes running. They've always converted any file-type into their format, but never their format of m4a into straight mp3 format.

2/17/2008 9:56:03 PM

A program like this should be run from the command line.

2/17/2008 10:02:30 PM

It's been in every version they've put out.

Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing
Change import pref to MP3. Okay out of the Preferences.
Select songs you want to convert. Advanced -> Convert Selection to MP3 (whatever you have selected in your import prefs)

it's a little out of the way and hidden, but it works like a charm.

Quote :

"A program like this should be run from the command line."

If you have a handful of songs by a handful of artists, it'd be a pain in the ass to do it from the CLI. There are a few reasons why a CLI might have advantages in some circumstances, but by no means should you make a sweeping generalization like that.



[Edited on February 17, 2008 at 10:10 PM. Reason : ]

2/17/2008 10:08:50 PM

^batch file?

2/18/2008 11:21:44 AM

That's still a lot of typing that can be substituted with a handful of mouse clicks.

Doing every file in a single directory? Maybe a CLI.
Doing one file each in 15 different directories? Probably a GUI.

2/18/2008 9:33:12 PM