Can I download songs from Napster that i paid $.99 onto my mp3 player?

Question

I was told they code their music so you cannot do it. Is there are a way to get around that? I paid for the song, i should be able to listen to it on my ipod!!!!!!!

I have an RCA MP3 player....

Answer 1

Depends on what your player is.

Napster, Yahoo Music, Rhapsody encode the copy written material in protected mode WMA format. Protected mode WMA is a Microsoft patented protocol.

Apple uses AAC format by default, however they will let you convert it to an MP3 format. Ipods can not play protected mode WMA.

You can get around it by making an audio CD with your protected mode songs, then copy them off the CD back into iTunes. Be sure your making an audio CD one that will play in any CD player, not an MP3 CD. You need to uncompress the songs back to an analog format.


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When posting questions on a forum like this it's helpful for the responders if you supply details up front.

For your knowledge - Ipods are a very specific product, which prompts a certain set of expectations. Ipods are an Apple Computer Company product and they do some things that are proprietary to them. Basically if you want to use iTunes, get an iPod. iPods don't play well with others. If you don't have an actual iPod, don't say you do.

The protected WMA file type - as mentioned above - isn't supported by "all" digital music players, certainly not by Apple (iPod) and not on older music players and not by most of the el-cheapo players. My recommendation is to go the web site for your player and find out if it can support protected mode WMA. If it can't, do the copy to CD thing I mentioned, that worked for me to move some protected mode WMA files I had over to my iPod.

Blame the music recording industry for your issue. It's worse if you try to move digital video files around.