WMA Audio Files

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white911

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Playing WMA Audio books? Our library has a large selection of Audio books; although, the majority of the audio books are in the WMA format. I have downloaded two players 'Overdrive Media' and 'Mort Player'. Neither of the players will play or even recognize a WMA file. MP3 format plays with no problems and all player functions work.

I have searched the forum and found somewhat conflicting information concerning the Droid's ability to play these files. I have a Motorola Droid with firmware version 2.1 and cannot play these files and I have not found a player to download to play these files. Otherwise; the Droid interfaces nicely with my car for playing Audio books on long cross-country drives.

Any suggestions?

Alan
 
are you downloading these files via pc? if so it might just be easier to convert them to mp3"s with some converting software. there are several free options out there.
 
CatsTide said:
are you downloading these files via pc? if so it might just be easier to convert them to mp3"s with some converting software. there are several free options out there.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply --

Two part answer -- no, have not been downloading via PC, downloading direct to the Droid. I could download them to the PC. I believe the files are encoded (DRM) so that they will have a shelf life/expiration date. From the site, 'WMA titles can be downloaded and played using OverDrive Media Console on Windows computers and Windows Mobile devices only.'

Another potential item -- don't know if we can load it --

'OverDrive Media Console for Windows Mobile - Free software for Windows Mobile devices that lets you download and enjoy audiobooks in WMA and MP3 formats, music in WMA format, and video in WMV format. OverDrive Media Console for Windows Mobile is compatible with devices running Windows Mobile 5 or 6.'

I have downloaded the 'Overdrive Media Console Mobile' which seems to be different from 'Overdrive Media Console for Windows Mobile'. It does not recognize WMA files.

Alan
 
then, a good way is to convert your wma files to mp3 so that they can be played. i always use Pavtube Video Converter to help me convert between kinds of videos and audios. And it is free to convert audios. All the conversion process is claimed to maintain original quality with fast conversion speed.
 
Alan,

I"m pretty sure that as yet you can't play any DRM files on a Droid and perhaps any Android device. The Droid will play non-DRM WMA files, but it's not totally clean. For instance, depending on the music player you use, you may not be able to see album art on WMA files. Also, the ordering is going to be wrong. The Droid can't yet read the WMA files' ID3 tag to order the files by track number. Instead, you can only order it by track name. Not sure why. Supposedly, the powers that be are working on the DRM issue. For instance, Rhapsody, to which I subscribe, claims that it's app will allow DRM-file downloading before years end in addition to the streaming audio it offers now. Hope that helps,

Charles
 
I have the OverDrive software on the PC.
Once you download the book via the software.
Put the Droid into Windows Media Sync Mode
Select book via OverDrive software and alt-click to see menu
Select Transfer and it converts and copies the files into the Music folder on the SD Card.
I usually select the advanced tab and change it
I just set up Mort Player to scan the AudioBooks directory on the SD card.
 
WMA conversion/compression allows play on Droid2

Hello,
Until a recent upgrade to Windows 7 (from XP), or an upgrade to MediaPlayer 12, or some other 'change' - (maybe even to my droid SW), I could synch my windows media player (wma lossless) music files with my Droid2 (also wma files - but... smaller). In a typical synch session, the typical lossless 40MB wma files on my PC were reduced to about 4MB and then placed in the corresponding music directory of my Droid. I believe that Windows Media Player performed the conversion/compression automatically. And the wma files played fine on my droid2. Also, album info and other data on the music was successfully transferred. Like I said, everything worked fine.

Now, after one of those upgrades/changes, Media Player's synch function is broken. The synch still copies the files from my PC to my Droid2 as before (right directory, album art, etc.). But now, the files are not compressed - and my droid will not play the large wma files. Of course, the files now take up 10x more room on my droid. There is a very slight chance that some other background program did the synch - because I didn't really pay attention to the configs until it stopped working - but something tells me that it was media player that was doing the work.). So can someone tell me what changed - and how I can regain my ability to put my PC's wma files onto my droid2? I REALLY don't want to change to MP3 or get into all the discussions of what file format is better, etc, etc. I just want my old ability back. Can anyone shed light on this?
Regards,
Steve
 
I just tried to download a book from the library using the Overdrive Media Console to my win 7 desktop,which went without a hitch.I then installed OMC on my Galaxy Tab 10.1,hooked up the cable to sync the book to my tablet,and found it would only download part 1,which wouldn't play on my Tab.It was then that I checked the fine print,and found WMA books won't play on androids.Some of the library books are in MP3,but with my luck I picked a WMA book.With the DRM encoding,I can't even convert the book to MP3 to play on my Tab,so am I SOL? .:mad:
 
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs.

Thanks in advance.
Derren
 
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