M4A (or ALAC??) to MP3

[Lastman369]

Hey guys!

I'd like to convert a few M4A files to mp3 format using MeGUI, but I get an error message when I start the conversion What should I do? Do I need another program to do this conversion?
If you can tell me how to extract the audio into a wav file, it'd also be a great help, as I could convert it to mp3 then..


If it helps, here's a report on the file by MediaInfo:
Audio ID : 1 Format : ALAC Codec ID : alac Codec ID/Info : Apple Lossless Format Duration : 2mn 5s Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 800 Kbps Channel(s) : 2 channels Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz Resolution : 16 bits Stream size : 12.0 MiB (99%) Encoded date : UTC 2009-09-07 17:52:23 Tagged date : UTC 2009-09-07 19:28:22
I know it says it's ALAC, but the file extensions are M4a. Is there a problem with this??

[guns1inger]

If these were created by iTunes or downloaded from the iTunes store then they most likely have copy protection/DRM, and can't be converted easily. If you can load it into iTunes, burn it to a CD and rip is as MP3. It is a simple as any other method.

[Ai Haibara]

Protected (DRM) audio generated by iTunes or purchased through the iTunes Music Store is usually given the .m4p extension, if I remember correctly.

.m4a is actually just a renamed .mp4, as I recall, so anything that can convert .mp4 audio files should be able to handle it. I know dbPowerAmp can do it, with the proper codecs installed from their Codec Central pages - but it's shareware, and I haven't tried anything else.

[El Heggunte]

IF the .m4a are not DRMed, you can use ffmpeg:

ffmpeg -i input.m4a output.wav

and recompress them with lame.exe.

[Lastman369]

Thanks guys for your help!
I could solve the problem using El Heggunte's ffmpeg script. I assume this means the files weren't DRM protected.