Ipod vs. MP3

[Sharon51]

I received this question from a friend in England. Unfortunately I can not answer it so I was hopeing someone there could answer for me. Please and Thank you
Sharon

I am trying to decide on an MP3 player to use when mowing the grass here!! I would also like it to be able to store some digital photos and maybe the odd file when visiting over to see Clare. I am thinking of the Mini or the 20GB version.

Some hard disk MP3 players are read in Windows Explorer as additional drives and you can drag and drop files on to the MP3 player disc. Can you do this with the Apple? Also I note the Ipod does not support Windows WMA file format but I guess we would be using the MP3 format so that should not be a problem.

[Child of Cupertino]

Hi.

Yes, you can use an iPod as a hard drive that would show up on the desktop of a Mac or a Windows system.

No, the iPod does not support WMA. At least on the Mac platform, however, there is a program that can convert NON-SECURE WMA files to either MP3 or Advanced Audio Codec, or "AAC" (songs purchased at the iTunes Music Store utilize a secure form of AAC).

If you purchased secure WMA music files, you're out of luck; iPod can't play them, nor can they be converted. The workaround that (or any secure audio format) is to burn an audio CD of the music and re-rip it back into whatever format you wish. On the Mac, there is a program called "Audio Hijack" that can "record" ANY SOUND that the computer itself makes into any file format you wish. So, you could play a secure file on the Mac and have Audio Hijack capture it in any unsecured audio format you'd like. Chances are that, for both this program and the program to convert WMA to other formats, there might be similar programs for the Windows platform.

[Sharon51]

Thank you. I will send this to our Friends in England and I hope it answers his question. If not I am going to give him this website and he can ask anything else he needs to know.
Again, Thanks
Sharon