MusicMatch to iTunes converion
October 21, 2005 8:28 AM   Subscribe

I have about a hundred MusicMatch downloads and now want to switch to an iPod. Is there any way I can play these with iTunes? My initial forays leave me pessimistic.

I've had it with MusicMatch, my wife wants a Nano, and I'm ready to make the switch. I have a PC. If necessary, I'm just about willing to cut the cord and re-pay for all the songs I previously downloaded from MusicMatch but would prefer not to have to do so.

Any advice is welcome.
posted by docpops to Technology (8 answers total)
 
In most cases you can burn it all to a CD and then re-rip it down in iTunes.

I've run into trouble (that I could find a way around) once or twice doing this, but not often.

That should, at the very least, reduce the number of tracks you'd have to buy again.
posted by frufry at 8:37 AM on October 21, 2005


If you re-rip to MP3 or AAC, you will get a drop in quality that can be pretty bad.

But if you burn to CD then rip to the "lossless" format called ALAC that the iPod supports, the sound quality will be the same as your current files.

The file size will be bigger it won't be as insanely large as pure WAV/AIFF.
posted by bcwinters at 9:00 AM on October 21, 2005


Response by poster: Does iTunes software allow ripping from CD to alac or does one need a specific piece of software?
posted by docpops at 9:01 AM on October 21, 2005


iTunes can rip in its own loseless format.
posted by null terminated at 9:04 AM on October 21, 2005


You should just rip in a high bitrate (256 or 320) and VBR. There shouldn't be much of a drop, and you won't have to deal with the waste of space that is lossless.

There is no reason to have a lossless file of a lossy recording.
posted by mr.dan at 9:10 AM on October 21, 2005


Thanks for asking this question, docpops. I've been considering the same thing.
posted by 27 at 9:58 AM on October 21, 2005


Response by poster: And thanks for solving my last barrier to making a long overdue switch.
posted by docpops at 10:04 AM on October 21, 2005


Also worth noting, when you burn DRM'd files to an Audio CD, and then rip from said Audio CD, it should remove the DRM...
posted by raster at 2:24 PM on October 21, 2005


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