convertng mp3 and wma
 

is there a program or a way to convert mp3 format to wma and wma to mp3? if so is this program free and where can i d/l it at? thanks

its really not worth it....there will be a rather severe loss of quality to do such a thing....just look for the files in the format you desire (I suggest staying away from wma and wmv files)

thanks just wondering
 

Thanks for the reply, just wanted to know becuase i had some i wanted to switch and some that were somehow switched in process of d/l.

Only convert lossless formats like FLAC, ALAC, APE, wavpack, lossless WMA etc. Anything that has already been transcoded (mp3, mp4, wma etc.) will end up sounding bad.

Thanks sleepless for your reply as well. Well with the two responses I have gotten I guess I will just stick with what I got and look for the d/l in the format I want to begin with and hope for the best.

converting files
 

not sure if this is pertinent to the thread, but sometimes I have an MP3 file that just won't play on Windows Media player, but will on another player, like say ...Irfanview. So it must be a codec issue of some kind. But ...when that happens, I just use a free converter program called "Super" which converts almost anything ...into anything. I just reencode the MP3 as an MP3 and it works...not sure why, but it fixes whatever issue I had on that file.

The problem with doing that is the Super will first decode the file (guessing mp3pro) into .wav format and re-transcode the file into mp3 again. It wil like in above mentioned scenarios have severe loss in quality.

You should be able to get the required codec to play the original file somewhere online. just try googleing something like WMP+mp3pro+codec

re:quality issue
 

Thanks Sleepless...

I read about the loss of quality in transcoding, and I'm sure you are right...from an audiophiles perspective. Guess I just couldn't notice an audible difference on the media players I use. I tried a few times to search for solutions to this quirk, but had no luck. Its funny how "Irfanview" ...a graphics program with a player app....will play almost every type of file I encounter, but for some reason I like the GUI of the Windows player ....legacy issues in my old school mentality. Thanks for clarifying the original point on quality though.

'If' you retranscode the file, please do not share it back to the network. ;) That depletes the quality of shared files around the network. I'm sure there are a % of files floating around on the network that have been transcoded from one lossy format to another like mp3 to mp3 or mp4 to mp3, etc.

Since most people are above using dial up connections nowadays, AIFF/WAV/FLAC/APE/Apple Lossless, etc are the best for everyone to share if they are able to and if they have the originals (not converted from mp3, etc.) After all, AIFF/WAV are 'identical' to CD with no loss of quality at all. That's why they are referred to as Lossless file formats.

Dare I say it but I feel the same about video. For some reason people still convert videos to mpeg 1 or mpeg 2 or equivalent formats or image dimensions (VCD/SVCD pixel dimensions). Mpeg 4 & H.264 are the way to go for video (though DivX is also very good, H.264 is even better.) Ideally retaining the 'original' video pixel dimensions if they would (eg: 640 x 480 pixels or large screen/HDD).

Switch Sound File Converter works quite well and it's free
Download Free Audio File Format Converter Software, Convert Mp3, Wav and other Sound files.