How to convert music files from iTunes to Windows Media Player in Windows Vista?

You can convert the songs in your iTunes library to a format that Windows Media Player can understand- (I tend to use mp3.) This can be done INSIDE iTunes itself. If the songs in your iTunes library were purchased in the iStore, and were purchased in the plus version (indicated with a small + sign before the price of a song), then they are DRM free, so they can be converted easily. However, if the songs were not purchased in the plus format, you can convert them for 30 cent each. I would highly recommend that you do this as the plus version of songs are premium quality- and since they are DRM free, you can use them in almost all applications and you can burn them to CD's and play them almost anywhere. All songs on the iTunes store are now plus version so you don't need to worry about looking out for them in the future.

To convert the songs to the format that the Windows Media Player can understand, Open iTunes and do the following steps:

1. Click Edit, Preferences and go to the General tab
2. Click on the "Import Settings" button
3. Change the "Import Using" to "MP3 Encoder"
4. Click OK and go back to your music library
5. Change to list view and select the first song in your library
6. Scroll all the way down to the last song in your library
7. Press the Shift key and then click on the last song to select all of the songs in your library
8. Click "Advanced" and then "Create MP3 Version"
9. Your songs should start to convert and depending on how many songs you have in your library, this could take quite some time
10. Open Windows Media Player and press F3 or click File, Add to Library
11. Click OK- Windows Media Player should start to search for songs on your computer and after it has finished the search, you should find the songs from your iTunes Library in your Windows Media Player Library.

NOTE: This method will only work if you have bought iTunes plus songs or if you have converted the songs to iTunes Plus for 30c each

I hope that this will solve your problem, please reply and let me know if this works out for you.

Dear mcorvette61,

You haven't directly done anything to make your songs protected. The only reason this error message shows up is because the songs in your iTunes library were not purchased in the "iTunes plus" format which was made standard on the iTunes store a few years ago. You need to upgrade your songs to the plus version which costs approx. a third of their original price. This can be costly if you have a large library of songs but I recommend it (see my earlier post:

*You can convert the songs in your iTunes library to a format that Windows Media Player can understand- (I tend to use mp3.) This can be done INSIDE iTunes itself. If the songs in your iTunes library were purchased in the iStore, and were purchased in the plus version (indicated with a small + sign before the price of a song), then they are DRM free, so they can be converted easily.****However, if the songs were not purchased in the plus format, you can convert them for 30 cent each. I would highly recommend that you do this as the plus version of songs are premium quality- and since they are DRM free, you can use them in almost all applications and you can burn them to CD's and play them almost anywhere.***All songs on the iTunes store are now plus version so you don't need to worry about looking out for them in the future.To convert the songs to the format that the Windows Media Player can understand, Open iTunes and do the following steps:1. Click Edit, Preferences and go to the General tab2. Click on the "Import Settings" button3. Change the "Import Using" to "MP3 Encoder"4. Click OK and go back to your music library5. Change to list view and select the first song in your library6. Scroll all the way down to the last song in your library7. Press the Shift key and then click on the last song to select all of the songs in your library8. Click "Advanced" and then "Create MP3 Version"9. Your songs should start to convert and depending on how many songs you have in your library, this could take quite some time10. Open Windows Media Player and press F3 or click File, Add to Library11. Click OK- Windows Media Player should start to search for songs on your computer and after it has finished the search, you should find the songs from your iTunes Library in your Windows Media Player Library.NOTE: This method will only work if you have bought iTunes plus songs or if you have converted the songs to iTunes Plus for 30c eachI hope that this will solve your problem, please reply and let me know if this works out for you.  )

So you need to "upgrade" your songs to the plus version. Hopefully this is clear, if you need any more help, just ask.

Hello Babefromthebush,

Thank you for your post.  Open Windows Media Player.  Click on the Library tab then Add to Library.  Your files should be with your personal folder so click OK.  That will add your files to Media Player.

Thanks for using the Answers Forum. Please let us know how this works out.

Joseph

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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