NoteBurner M4P Converter: Convert WMA to MP3, Remove DRM from protected WMA

WMA to MP3 Converter

NoteBurner Audio Converter can convert WMA to MP3 at fast speed and with high fidelity. If you want to free the purchased DRM-protected WMA songs to MP3, or simply want to convert WMA to MP3 so that you can enjoy the music on any media player, and without any limits, NoteBurner Audio Converter, the outstanding WMA to MP3 Converter, is able to help you out.

WMA (Windows Media Audio) is contained in the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) format. Even though WMA files can be plain, it can support digital rights management (DRM). If you have purchased DRM-encrypted WMA songs from Zune Marketplace, Wal-Mart Music Store or other online music store that sell WMA music, you probably would like to remove or crack the DRM protection from your WMA songs, thinking thatĄ¯s your digital rights.

Convert WMA to MP3, Remove DRM from protected WMA

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But it's unnecessary to risk violating the DRM regulations. With NoteBurner Audio Converter, you can legally convert all WMA files to MP3 format, whether it's unprotected WMA or DRM-encrypted WMA files.

In the matter of fact, NoteBurner Audio Converter can convert any given audio file to MP3, WMA and WAV. It can convert WMA, AAC, M4P, M4A, M4B, WAV, RAX, MP4, RA, SND, OGG, AIF, AC3, MP2 and all other audio formats to MP3, WMA and WAV.

NoteBurner can preserves ID3 tags, such as song title, artist, genre and album art, etc. This audio converter can function batch conversion to accelerate converting speed.

Mechanism of NoteBurner WMA to MP3 Converter

The mechanism utilized by NoteBurner Audio Converter to convert WMA to MP3 and convert other audio formats to MP3 is called virtual burning.

You may know that it's allowed and legal to burn any purchased music files to audio CDs and MP3 CDs. When you rip the songs from audio CDs and MP3 CDs, you get unprotected MP3 files. ThatĄ¯s what NoteBurner Audio Converter can virtually do for you.

But differently, NoteBurner Audio Converter does not require any physical CD, it just simulates the burning and ripping processes to convert WMA to MP3. Within a few clicks, you get MP3 files on you computer.

When you install NoteBurner Audio Converter, a virtual drive will be added to your computer. The virtual CD drive is used to burn and rip CDs without doing any real burning or ripping.

How to Convert WMA to MP3 with NoteBurner

If you use Windows Media Player 10 to convert WMA to MP3, please follow these steps:

1. Run WMP 10 and NoteBurner Audio Converter simultaneously.

2. On NoteBurner, set MP3 as the output format.

3. On WMP 10, create a playlist to contain the songs you want to convert to MP3.

4. On WMP 10, click the Burn button, choose CD Drive (G:)/( H:) - Audio CD as the burner.

5. Click Start Burn.

If you use Real Player, the general process is the same as using WMP 10, simply replace Step 4 with:

On Real Player, click on "Tools > CD > CD Burner", and choose CD Burner as Current Burner/Device.

Import Note: Windows Media Player 11 users please refer to the following Workaround of Converting WMA to MP3 with Windows Media Player 11.

Workaround of Converting WMA to MP3 with Windows Media Player 11

With the release of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP and Vista, Microsoft has imposed harsher DRM limits. WMP 11 does not allow users to backup the rights data for playback or even legitimately copy the DRM-protected music to other computers, unless they receive permission to download new licenses for each computer.

Since NoteBurner adopts virtual burning mechanism, it has to work with media player to complete the conversion. So that means WMP 11 can not be used to convert WMA to MP3 with NoteBurner Audio Converter.

But there are workarounds. Besides Windows Media Player, WMA is supported by MPlayer, RealPlayer, Winamp and many other media players. Real Player and Winamp and some other WMA-compatible media players have burning capacities. You can try these players to work with NoteBurner to convert WMA to MP3.

Unfortunately, most of the WMA-compatible players can not play DRM protected WMA files. And if you have no player to playback the WMA music, NoteBurner cannot convert the WMA files to MP3.

WMA and MP3

WMA is the abbreviation of Windows Media Audio. It's a compression audio format developed by Microsoft. WMA file is contained in the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) format. Microsoft claims that audio encoded with WMA sounds better than MP3 at the same bit rate; Microsoft also claims that audio encoded with WMA at lower bit rates sound better than MP3 at higher bit rates.

One independent test conducted in 2004 showed that, 128 kbit/s WMA was roughly equivalent to MP3; inferior to AAC and Vorbis; and superior to ATRAC3. Another test performed by ExtremeTech placed WMA at the top of the list in terms of quality, better than MP3.

WMA Codecs

Microsoft released a series of WMA codecs since the year of 1999: Windows Media Audio 2, Windows Media Audio 7, Windows Media Audio 8 and Windows Media Audio 9. WMA 9 codecs are not compatible with the original WMA codec. These codecs are WMA 9 Professional, WMA 9 Lossless, and WMA 9 Voice.

WMA Pro is an advanced codec that supports multi-channel and high resolution audio. WMA Pro is a newer and more advanced lossy audio codec. WMA Pro also supports dynamic range compression, which reduces the volume difference between the loudest and quietest sounds in the audio track.

WMA Lossless is a lossless codec, compresses audio without loss of audio fidelity. WMA Voice targets at voice content and applies compression using a range of low bit rates.

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