# iTunes file conversion help! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676 "2010-02-27T19:16:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676/1 "2010-02-27T19:16:20Z")
My wife just got a Motorola “Cliq” phone, and wants to put her iTunes files on it. The files have to be in mp3 or .wav format. Is there a resource I can use to convert the iTunes format to mp3 or .wav? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676/2 "2010-02-27T19:21:39Z")
If the files are DRM-free (unprotected, most newer iTunes store purchases), you can right-click on them in iTunes and select “Convert to MP3.” If they’re protected AAC files, the best you can do is burn them to a music CD, then re-import them CD as MP3. Whether this is worth it to you or not depends on how many songs you want to convert. If you’ve got a lot of them, it might be easier to just buy an iPod Shuffle for the music and use the phone as a phone. In either case, there will be some loss of quality in the re-encoding, but nothing you’re going to notice over ordinary headphones or cellphone speakers. ETA: Many modern devices will support (unprotected) AAC as a native format, too, so you might see if you need to convert them at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676/3 "2010-02-27T19:31:32Z")
When I right-click, even the newer files don’t have a “convert to mp3” option, but they have a “create AAC version” option. ☹ What a pain. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676/4 "2010-02-27T19:42:30Z")
Simplest thing to do would be burn to a CD-R(or -RW) then rip them back. Kind of a time-consuming pain in the ass, but it’ll work. A more complicated solution would be to create a virtual CD and then rip them back. I don’t know what platform you’re using, but a simple google search for “virtual CD” should yield appropriate results, or you can try Tunebite([Audials One Multimedia Recorder](http://tunebite.com/en/audials/converter-file-format-unprotect-drm-copy-protection-audio-video-recorder-movie-music-audiobook-mp3-wma-wmv-mp4/start.html)). ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676/5 "2010-02-27T20:17:38Z")
You can try [Foobar](http://www.foobar2000.org/), which is great and converts all sorts of formats with a click and it’s totally free [Monkey Audio](http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Monkeys_Audio/monkeyaudio.html)’s Free version also will convert formats. There is a pay version but you don’t need it. A lot of people perfer Monkey Audio over iTunes and it works well with an iPod ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-file-conversion-help/530676/6 "2010-02-27T20:53:00Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > When I right-click, even the newer files don’t have a “convert to mp3” option, but they have a “create AAC version” option. ☹ What a pain. Make sure your import settings are set to MP3.