There are a number of tools available to help a user convert WMA music files to the MP3 format. However, the overriding question may be one of legality.

Let’s look first at what a WMA file is. Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs.

1. Original WMA, known simply as WMA, was conceived to compete with the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs.
2. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, which supports multichannel and high resolution audio.
3. WMA Lossless, a lossless codec that compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity.
4. WMA Voice, which is targeted at voice content and applies compression using a range of low bit rates.

All of these formats can be (and usually are) enclosed in a wrapper of Windows Media DRM, which is a Digital Rights Management service for the Windows Media platform. It is designed to provide secure delivery of audio and/or video content over an IP network to a PC or other playback device in such a way that the distributor can control how that content is used.

For most users, the WMA file format gets applied when the user rips the music from a CD using Windows Media Player software. It is possible to buy DRM-encoded WMA files directly from some music sources. Both processes impart more or less limited digital rights management constraints to those files. These limitations are intended to insure that the user who owns the right to the music, by virtue of having purchased the original CD, does not illegally transfer that music to another user who has not purchased those rights.

In actual usage, these rights management tools limit the usage of WMA DRM-protected music to “compatible devices.” Thus, it is possible for users of Windows Media Player to assemble a new CD from tracks that they have ripped from their own CDs and to provide that CD to another user to also play in his copy of Windows Media Player, or for that matter, in the CD player in their cars.

Still, WMA files will not work in all playback devices, and therefore the user is limited as to what she or he can do with such music tracks. They could not, as an example, copy them to an iPod and use them because the iPod does not recognize the WMA format. There is a school of thought which teaches that this is not fair and that the user should be able to play the music on any device of his choice, since he paid for the music. For better or worse, that is not the way that digital rights management works.

DRM rules are laid down when the track is originally recorded and follow the music everywhere. There are a number of organizations whose business it is to insure that these rights are enforced. Primary among these is the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA is a group which represents the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of a large number of private corporate entities such as record labels and distributors, which the RIAA claims “create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90 percent of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States.”

Organizations such as the RIAA have the job of enforcing digital rights management and they tend to do so with gusto. In recent years, they have been vociferous in doing their job, going as far as to sue individuals for downloading free songs from music file-sharing services. You will have to make up your own mind about how to handle the digital rights management issue. We are certainly not advising you to break any laws.

On the other hand, the MP3 standard is a digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players. MP3 is an audio-specific format that was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group.

The use of a lossy compression algorithm in MP3 is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording and still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio for most listeners. MP3, however, is not considered high fidelity audio by audiophiles. An MP3 file that is created using the mid-range bit rate setting of 128 kbit/s will result in a file that is typically about 1/10th the size of the CD file created from the original audio source. MP3 is not a digital rights managed format.

All of that groundwork covered, there are a number of ways to convert protected Windows Media Player WMA music files into the more portable MP3 format. Software is readily available that will perform this conversion for you in a number of ways. Some will do the conversion directly. Simply point the programs at a list of WMA files and they will convert those files into on of many different formats, including MP3. Others require that you play the WMA files one at a time, and the software will capture the sound from your sound card and record it in MP3 format with no loss of quality. Others utility packages claim to simply remove the restrictions.

Just a few of the software titles that will perform the conversion funcion in one way or another are:

• Free WMA to MP3 Converter, for the PC, available via CNET
• Convert WMA to MP3 on a Mac, for the Mac, available from Jake Ludington’s MediaBlab
• Tipard WMA MP3 Converter, for the PC, available from RocketDownload
• TOP Audio Converter, for the PC, available from TopShareware
• Mediamonkey (with some extra work), for the PC, available from Mediamonkey
• FreeRip, for the PC, available from FreeRip
• TOP WMA MP3 Converter, for the PC, available from FileTransit
• Convert-WMA-to-MP3 Professional, for the PC, available from FiveSign
• OJOsoft WMA Converter, for the PC, available from OJOsoft
• Bluefox WMA MP3 converter, for the PC, available from Bluefox

All of the usual precautions for downloading and running programs from the internet apply to the above software titles. Be careful. Some of this software is free, others carry prices up to $50. Some of the above titles will convert to and or from more formats than WMA and MP3. There are many more similar programs available. As a final caveat, some WMA files may not have any digital rights management attached to them. Such WMA files can be directly converted with Windows Media Player, iTunes, or any of a number of other media center programs.

In summary, you first have to decide where your sympathies lie, with yourself as the owner of the music, or with the RIAA and their clients. If you do decide to convert your WMA files to another format, do your research and find the conversion program that makes the most sense for you, balancing program flexibility, program cost, and ease of use. Then convert and enjoy at will.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 3:19 pm under Internet, Media players, Microsoft, Music, Piracy, Software, Tips and advice.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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