laptops, media player, license, ripping CDs

[pseudotriton ruber ruber]

So my old laptop died, and I got a new one last week: I transferred all the files over to the new machine, including my Windows Media Player, but when I try to play some songs on the new machine I get a message beginning:

A license is required to play this file

The file you are trying to play was ripped (copied) from an audio CD.

During the ripping process, the file was "protected." This limits the number of computers on which the file can be played.

To play the file on this computer, you must download a license (a process known as "license migration"). A license acts an electronic key that allows you to "unlock" a protected file and play it.

To download a license for this file, click Download License.

Clicking on the button, just gives me a message saying that the file is not available for some reason or other, but my question is this: WTF?

It just seems wacky to me that when I copy CDs onto Media Player, I am agreeing to using that compuiter for the rest of my life. Now, it's true that this is not the first time I copied those music files on to another computer (I copied them on to my Blackberry, and on to my desktop, and onto my netbook previously) but am I really being informed that I used up my quota for copying music?

More technically, I wonder in the words of Marvin Barnes "How do it know?" that I've copied a track x times, but fundamentally I'm wondering if the only solution is to buy fresh copies of the songs in order to listen to music? Or is this a technical problem, and the "Download License" just needs to be enabled, and it's free, easy, and non-caloric to do so?

[Thudlow Boink]

From the help files for Windows Media Player:

What happens if I decide to copy protect music that I rip?

If you copy protect the tracks that you rip from a CD, the ripped files are protected, which means that media usage rights are required to play, burn, or sync the file. If you copy the files to another computer and try to use them, you might be prompted to download media usage rights for that computer. There are a limited number of times that you can download media usage rights for your ripped files.

If you intend to use your ripped music on multiple computers, do not copy protect the files. If you want to limit the distribution of any songs that you rip, turn on copy protection before ripping. Note that you can't remove copy protection from a file once it has been applied. Copy protection is only available when you rip music to a Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. For information about turning copy protection on or off, see Change settings for ripping music.

Sounds like you had copy protection turned on when you originally ripped the CD. It's easy enough to turn off (just uncheck the box, after selecting "More Options" from the "Rip Music" menu).

[md2000]

Use a real program to rip your tracks, to MP3 format rather than to WMA.
IIRC iTunes allows MP3 conversion. You will have no problem finding a dozen others, also free.
Welcome to the 21st century, where you don't control the computer, computer control you!

This is the same technology that allows a corporation to decide they sold you something in error and simply turn off your access to "your" file. This was Microsoft sucking up to the big content companies in an effort to nudge iTunes store out of top spot, s they made copy protection a default.

Rip those CD's again. This time, no copy protection. Copy protection does nothing for you, unless you think your friends are secretly copying your music when you are not looking.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by md2000

Use a real program to rip your tracks, to MP3 format rather than to WMA.

Would you care to explain why Windows Media Player isn't a "real program," or why MP3 format is preferable to WMA?

[md2000]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Would you care to explain why Windows Media Player isn't a "real program," or why MP3 format is preferable to WMA?

I think the OP shows the problem.

If it doesn't do what you reasonably think it does (or sneaks something else in) then it's not what it claims to be. I work with computers (have since 1973), and I did not know WMA would default to DMR, for no reason that benefits the user. Good old Microsoft...

Of course I use iTunes and previously used WinAmp with none of the problems described, but I always rip to MP3. Of course, I have portable music players several brands) and all play MP3's; none that I'm aware of play WMA.

I have my house wired with a fancy zone speaker system. I have an Airport Express connected to a stereo-in port of the system. I can play thousands of songs fromplaylists or shuffle from iTunes over the stereo, listen to it in the living room, patio, bedroom, garage. Can't do that with WMA. (I assume somewhere there is different, more expensive, less friendly hardware that will.)

Oh, and my iPad and iPhone will also play - wifi - to that Airport express. But not WMA, AFAIK.

[Great Antibob]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Would you care to explain why Windows Media Player isn't a "real program," or why MP3 format is preferable to WMA?

Yeah, no clue on the hate for WMP. It's good for what it's supposed to do. But what it's supposed to do can sometimes be constraining for audio archiving.

MP3 might be preferable for disk space/compression. There are better CD to MP3 converters than WMP, though. There's no set conversion algorithm, so it's certainly possible to get better quality MP3s for the same bitrate from other software.

As for WMA, the original format (10 years ago now?) was an MP3 competitor and not nearly as good. There were claims it could produce CD quality sound at 64 kbits/s. And that the compression was better than MP3. None of that was true.

The newer format is better but still potentially encumbered by DRM and still not really superior to MP3 for conversion from CD at the same bitrate.

The only place where you might prefer it is lossless audio. If you don't need/want compressed audio, you can get all sorts of metadata in WMA that you won't get ripping straight to WAV. It still comes with the proprietary MS baggage, but if you don't mind that, it's certainly a valid option. Though I think for lossless, archivers prefers FLAC, which is not proprietary at all, which means fewer problems porting to different machines/networks, etc.