iPod help

[valis2]

I went with a Zen mp3 player because I wasn't in love with iTunes/iPod.

Now I find that I have to load a ton of music (1,000+ songs) onto a brand new iPod. The songs I have are all in .wma format, and need to be in .aac format for the iPod player, I presume.

I can find no other method of converting them, save to convert each song one at a time. However, my time is incredibly slim, as I'm leaving in a week for a long trip, and I'd rather not sit and convert each file one at a time.

I'm holding out hope that, once plugged in for the first time, it will start up a sequence that goes to all of the music, converts it to .aac, and downloads it to the iPod, all with minimal fuss on my end. Yeah, and I'd like a pony, too.

Anyone know of these matters? Any ideas or help?

ETA: And it won't convert any song numbered 10 on an album. ha!

ETA2: Thanks, innerslytherin!

Comments

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Dude, I never thought I'd be using anything except for my Zen player, and because I use WMP to keep it sync'ed, I had no problem keeping things in .wma. My friends were the ones who bought the iPod, so that's why I'm stuck in this position! :(

[morricone1900.livejournal.com]

Actually, I got my iPod as a gift too. I still have mixed feelings about it. I mean, I LOVE iTunes as an application to organize music in my computer, because it's amazing. But there are things about the iPod (including the fact that once you send something to your iPod, you can't get it back, i.e.: you have to also save it to a hard drive or it's stuck in some weird limbo where it exists on the iPod but cannot be re-imported into your computer) that thoroughly annoy me, not to mention that I feel like .aac files are NOT universal, just as .wma files aren't (meaning that if you send them as an attachment to a friend, or burn a data CD for them, they can't listen to them unless they have iTunes).

So my solution is to always import anything as an mp3 (you can set your iTunes preferences that way -- the actual iTunes application is down with ANYthing) and that way whatever you have will play anywhere, in anyone's computer, etc. The only snag is that if you buy tracks from the iTunes store, they come in "protected AAC" format, which means that they won't play in any other computer than your own. Which is okay I guess, given the copyright issues...but if I had bought the actual CD (rather than buying it on iTunes) I would have gotten not only higher quality audio (AIFF files) but I could have easily imported the CD (that I bought) into mp3 format in iTunes. So it seems a little hypocritical. Result? I don't buy something on iTunes unless it's an exclusive or it's just a single song I really want to get quickly.

End of rant. :]

Glad you're so busy these days!

[morricone1900.livejournal.com]

Oh, I get it now...the iPod's not even for YOU!! It's for the friends' store.

Forget everything I said then (except to always import as an mp3 for a worry-free rest-of-your-musical-life). ;)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I wasn't that clear. ;)

Yeah, it's their iPod, and hopefully this will be the last time I have to import stuff into it. I have negative time at the moment, so this is making me nuts, but it's worth it to have good music at their store.