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. :angry:

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...

[deleted]

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

nchto wrote:

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

[deleted]

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?

[deleted]

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