5punk

I've just spent several hours this morning, and £2.30 ish, fannying around with DRM encoded .WMP files. As with anything else, I'd rather buy my music legitimately because then I'm assured of the quality and I don't get pissed off when something doesn't work like I expected it to. However, with these DRM encrypted files I now find I can't use the fucking things.
Until I reluctantly let Media Player connect to the internet to verify it I couldn't listen to it at all, and now that I have (and I'm still not comfortable with it) I still can't burn the bloody things to CD because the built in burner is borked and it just laughs in Nero's face.
Okay, so that's partly because my computer has an issue and it's not strictly Media Player's fault, but my point is that it's taken me two hours to try and make a CD for my car and I've still had no success, when if I'd just downloaded them illegally I'd have had it done ages ago. Not a big incentive is it?
This extends to a lot of other things though - region-restricted DVDs (my Sony player is a particularly bad one for that), and Starforce on games. My thinking is that anything will be ripped and available illegally within hours of (if not before) release, so why do publishers insist on punishing legitimate customers with this crap?

Dog Pants wrote:why do publishers insist on punishing legitimate customers with this crap?

To keep the law abiding citizens abiding by the law.

for the rest of us. http://www.cdfreaks.com/software/98

also i have oink invites about if you need one

Even with Tunebite though I'm still left having to pay out more money to use it.

Legal way = expensive and hard work

Illegal way = quick, easy and free

It's no wonder there's so much piracy. (and in case anyone's wondering I'm still trying to do this legally, if only because I've paid for the bastard things.)

As a separate point,

This is why i refuse to purchase music using itunes etc - You get a low quality (128kbps) rip that takes all the feeling out of the music, costs about the same as the CD, and fucks the artist out of money (they get less for downloads).

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:
also i have oink invites about if you need one

Have you got a spare one for anotherr "law abiding citizen" please

Ty aka Sir Die Aloty wrote:Have you got a spare one for anotherr "law abiding citizen" please

Can't i'm afraid

Invites are meant for new users only.
If you previously invited someone who lost their account, inviting him/her back will cause you to lose all current and future invites.

I'm using an new email now it that makes a difference?

Ty aka Sir Die Aloty wrote: I'm using an new email now it that makes a difference?

Still don't wanna risk it, narf

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:
Still don't wanna risk it, narf

okie dokies Thanks though

is there anyone else who can invite me?

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:As a separate point,

This is why i refuse to purchase music using itunes etc - You get a low quality (128kbps) rip that takes all the feeling out of the music, costs about the same as the CD, and fucks the artist out of money (they get less for downloads).

iTunes is iEvil.

I have a bit of a problem with the files I get from Oink: they're too good. My MP3 player does a spack when I try to upload them.

What I have done previously is to convert them to WAV using WinAmp, then re-encode them as MP3s using right-click MP3. This is an atrocious method, it takes ages, destroys ID data and opens 100s of DOS boxes when encoding. Also, it doesn't seem to be working anymore and they are all saying invalid format.

Some files have the same filename, and sit in subdirectories, anyone know a tool that can either do the conversions, or re-encode at lower bit rates in-place?

It is rather frustrating. I came very close to using my first ever non-ironic exclaimation mark in that last sentence.

FatherJack wrote:Some files have the same filename, and sit in subdirectories, anyone know a tool that can either do the conversions, or re-encode at lower bit rates in-place?

winamp can, you'll need a decent mp3 encoder though.

otherwise, there's various apps that'll do it - but i need to sleep and my brain is broken.

i have no idea if DBPower AMP would work, as i stear well clear of DRM
However, i really like it and it has filters for all sorts. I even paid for the full version but the free one is pretty good.

You should be fine to re-encode stuff, and the new one can do batch stuff as well i think. Have a crack even if it doesnt do the drm shit its still a handy tool

CDex can recencode, not tried it, but it says it can

FatherJack wrote:It is rather frustrating. I came very close to using my first ever non-ironic exclaimation mark in that last sentence.

pfffttttt!!!

Some files have the same filename, and sit in subdirectories, anyone know a tool that can either do the conversions, or re-encode at lower bit rates in-place?

iTunes can.. and it costs free moneys. If you dare load it up. I'm pretty sure Berk is gonna tell me this is a bad way to do it, but it can do it.

pixie pie wrote:iTunes can.. and it costs free moneys. If you dare load it up. I'm pretty sure Berk is gonna tell me this is a bad way to do it, but it can do it.

iTunes is a great way to do it.

Like amputating your leg to fix and ingrown toenail.

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:
iTunes is a great way to do it.

Like amputating your leg to fix and ingrown toenail.

Guessed so. Thanks for your superior knowledge Berk.

pixie pie wrote:
Guessed so. Thanks for your superior knowledge Berk.

Seriously though, unless you have to transcode a *massive* amount of music, itunes will be more hassle than it's worth.

Just make sure you have a full backup of everything and use cdex - that way you have a set of music worth listening to, and one for an MP3 player.


any other way will likely fuck your sorting system up, or overwrite your decent quality music

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Seriously though, unless you have to transcode a *massive* amount of music, itunes will be more hassle than it's worth.

Just make sure you have a full backup of everything and use cdex - that way you have a set of music worth listening to, and one for an MP3 player.

any other way will likely fuck your sorting system up, or overwrite your decent quality music

Cheers, I'll give it a go. Don't know why I missed these replies before.

It'll be a full backup on a different computer - it does actually have iTunes on it, as I use it to grab the free podcasts. Sorting system doesn't matter too much, as it's all renamed and encoded using a proprietary format and dumped onto the device, just need to keep same-named source files separate.

It's only a 6GB device, so I anticipate a bit of shuffling around now that my source media exceeds that size.