Yep, I've just installed the trial, I don't see that option either.

...well, we know that's not true.

So, written what version did you use?

Its not that simple. Virtuosa will not allow me to convert the file. Says its protected.

One way that did work for me is with creatives recording tool. I set record to sync with file and I am able to create a mp3 out of the wma file in any bitrate I choose. You lose all info on the tag though. Oh yeah...dont set the soundcard to "record what you hear". I had mine set to "mp3/wave".

Is there a way to get the net to tag your songs for you individually? Thanks for the help guys.

MusicBrainz can tag files based on their acoustic fingerprint, but I'd rather use the data from Napster.

I cant get the info to stay with the file upon conversion...but the file sounds dam good.

Hey guys... I used tunebite and it worked somewhat well... it converted the files to mp3, and they play fine on my computer... but when I burn them (twice now, on different speeds) to an audio CD using EZCD Creator, they burn with cuts/jumps on the tracks... any help here?

if you want to try virtuosa, click here instead -> http://www.virtuosa.com

the link that "written" sent out has a referral id, and should be considered spam.

Still doesnt work. Your link takes us to the exact same site. Can you give us a detailed explaination of what you are doing?

I'm not saying it works, I'm saying "written" was spamming.

the winamp solution works great, so I'm not sure why everyone is still suckered into listening what "written" spammed out.

Winamp just keeps pluggin away, sure takes up a lot of CPU.

I just signed up for the 14-day trial of the standard Napster service and the Winamp/Lame 1.62 method to convert to mp3 works wonderfully with only one hitch, all ID3 information is lost during the conversion. Is there a way to get the info back without adding it by hand?

written's link wasn't an affiliate link. It had parameters for affiliate and partnerid, but no values:

http://www.virtuosa.com/index.php?re...nerid=&lang=en

If thats the easiest way...then my creative sound card does what winamp does with no workaround necessary. Like you I lose all tagging info. Tagging them all by hand is gonna be a B*tch.

How does one open multiple instances of winamp at the same time?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=2...G=Search&meta=

The first result.

Sry dude, I was lazy.

Thats weird, I'm using the winamp/lame method and it keeps all my ID tags... WMP recognizes the unprotected mp3 the same as the protected wma. Are you using the latest version of lame? (1.63) I believe the link to the newest version is somewhere in this thread...

Can anyone tell me how I can sign up for the trial from overseas? I tried setting all my regional settings to the US but no luck there. I guess they derive your country from your IP. Perhaps there is a program on the net that will make it think my IP is a US one or assigns me an IP that gets redirected to from my real IP? Any help would be appreciated.

PS. The newest LAME plugin is at http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=143606 - just a tip, use "AP Standard", if you read the documentation you can see this version doesn't support playing around with the settings, only the presets.

For the people that are using multiple instances of Winamp with lame: Has anyone checked what happens if you try to use too many instances at once? Will the plug-in records jumps/silences? Or will it just automatically slow down to below real-time?

Yep, my tags convert also, although they are the Napster tags and they put "(Album Version)" on every song's tag, which is annoying. I was even using version 1.62 and it converted the tags. Maybe it has something to do with the Winamp version? Mine is the latest which is 5.08D.

I think Winamp probably retrieves the tags automatically from CDDB instead of using the ones in the WMA file. Try changing the tags around in the WMA file beforehand to a bunch of gibberish and then see what happens when you convert it.

Anyone know anything about my cut/jump in the songs problem above?

So I've tried every combination of suggested versions for out_lame, lame_enc, and windows media (all with winamp 5.08d because I can't find any other versions) and winamp consistently crashes when trying to use the out_lame plugin, regardless of the versions of anything.

output stacker + disk writer works but I'd much rather encode straight to mp3... anyone have a similar problem or hints? thanks!

Some versions of the lame dll are dramatically different in how they were compiled. Even looking at the size, one might be 500k, while the other is 150k. I've had good luck with the compiles from here. Hope it helps, but I know you've already tried multiple versions, so it may not...

My bad. I assumed the ref was part of the referral id.

ok guys listen up. This is how it is done. plain and simple. if you follow these steps you will enjoy your music on you home cd player or in your car. All you need is a nice little program called WINAMP!!!! and a few little tiny plugins to go with it. Lets get started...

1. download winamp5.08, null output plugin, out lame plugin(i use the 1.6.2 version and it works fine) and the dietmers output stacker plugin.

2. Install winamp and all of the plugins

3. open up winamp and click options

4. click preferences, then click output(now you should see all of the plugins you installed)

5. Next click on the output stacker plugin and click config

6. now click on add plugin

7. add the null output plugin first(this will allow winamp to run with no noise, so you can listen to something else on windows media player or whatever player you use)

8. then add the out lame plugin(im assuming this plugin is what keeps the ID TAGS with the song. yes you heard me right, it will keep the ID TAGS. now if that aint the shit i dont know what is.

9. then click on the out lame plugin and hit config. set up your directory to save to the folder of your choice.

10. click done all the way through till you get back to the winamp media player

11. import your files and you are ready to go

12. as each file is played it will convert it to mp3 into the folder you chose for you newly converted stupid drm wma to nice and pretty mp3 files.

13. yes it will TAG the song(i was worried about this, as i download alot of music and i dont want to have to tag each and every damn song.

Note: remember that every song played through winamp will be converted.

Note: Once you close winamp out, all of your settings will be lost, so if you want to convert some more songs you must set all of your settings again

i just want to shout out a big THANK YOU to whoever figured this out. Come on out and take your curtain call and get it over with. once again thank you.

on a side note: I download my songs while winamp is converting in the backround, i have been doing this for about 2 days now. All you have to do is set it and forget it. Ive got about 60 gigs of music now, i have about 40 to start and have gotten about 20 in the last 2 days. I do all of this on a measly(but shes my baby)900mhz processor and 256 mb ram. let her run day and night. converting and downloading. I am going to have to go buy another hard drive. maybe i will go with a 160 gig all for music. man i love music. especially when napster offers unlimited songs for $10 bucks a month

1 Downfall to this method: It isnt quick enough, especially when you have 5000 songs. Other than that it is great.

If anyone knows a way to convert these with a special utility tool without having to do it in real time. Please sign up to the site and post a message letting us know how. As i would be very gratefull for your sevices. wow, just downloaded 50 songs while posting this message. man napster the second is great. and please dont say virtuosa, as they have already fixed the glitch in their program. Some big wig company must have been getting on there ass about it. to bad for them as they would make more money off of people buying there program than they get from those big wigs.

away with DRM and in with MP3!!!!!!!!!!!!1