iTunes question(s)

I'm way behind the times and haven't ever used iTunes before. I never had a need as media player worked just fine for me. But now I have a need.

So I have a few questions. Majority of my music is in .wma format as imported from windows media player. I want to get that onto my iphone.

I imported/converted a single song to iTunes, but I'm not sure where that copy resides. Does iTunes make a copy of the .wma to their required format?

iTunes would never replace the .wma with their file format, would they?

If I format this computer, how and where do I find the converted files for an easy backup, or do I have to go through the whole process again?


Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

Most likely it's in My Documents/My Music/iTunes/--somewhere in there

It's probably an .mp4 file. It can't replace your wma with a file of a different type.

darthviper107 said:

Most likely it's in My Documents/My Music/iTunes/--somewhere in there

It's probably an .mp4 file. It can't replace your wma with a file of a different type.

Click to expand...

Yes, thanks, just found it, it's in /my music/itunes.

So anything I move onto my iPhone will be copied there it seems.

I copied a Cowboy Junkies song that was 6MB in wma format (192 kbps) and the conversion is 8.2 MB in a .m4a format.

Does that seem large to anyone else? 8 MB a song?

So a 32 GB iPhone will hold ~ around 4000 songs?

Actually thanks for making this thread, I wondered the very same thing. I'm still working on my music syncing.

32 GB should hold about 7,000 songs if used for just music alone. When you add apps and if you decide to hold video it decreases quite a bit. The video takes up a bulk of mine but I've still got a ton of room for songs.

Mesa said:

Yes, thanks, just found it, it's in /my music/itunes.

So anything I move onto my iPhone will be copied there it seems.

I copied a Cowboy Junkies song that was 6MB in wma format (192 kbps) and the conversion is 8.2 MB in a .m4a format.

Does that seem large to anyone else? 8 MB a song?

So a 32 GB iPhone will hold ~ around 4000 songs?

Click to expand...

I don't know what compression is uses for the format, if you have mp3's you can get like 2-4MB files and they sound fine.

Here's another question.

Once I get this loaded with music, is there any way to get it to play it in my car if my stereo doesn't have a digital input? And I already tried one of those FM broadcasters and the quality was horrible.

My car is only a 2007 so it's not that old but I looked and I can't see any digital input on the dashboard.

And also, just for confirmation, once I do the conversion process, I would copy the "my documents/my music/itunes" folder in order to back it up?

Mesa said:

Here's another question.

Once I get this loaded with music, is there any way to get it to play it in my car if my stereo doesn't have a digital input? And I already tried one of those FM broadcasters and the quality was horrible.

My car is only a 2007 so it's not that old but I looked and I can't see any digital input on the dashboard.

Click to expand...

Do you have a 2.5 or 3.5 mm jack somewhere on your dash? If your car is a 2k7, you should have an aux input. If so, just get a male-to-male adapter. One goes into the iPhone, the other into your aux input.

You would need some kind of input--like the type you use for your headphones (3.5mm) my mom's car just has a cord for that. Otherwise you'd have to get a new car stereo that has that (or has an ipod dock). I use an FM transmitter for my ipod and it works OK, I have a really bad radio so it's not the best. But my roommate has one too and it works great in his car. Sometimes you just have to find the right radio station to setup the FM transmitter.

scubasteve said:

Do you have a 2.5 or 3.5 mm jack somewhere on your dash? If your car is a 2k7, you should have an aux input. If so, just get a male-to-male adapter. One goes into the iPhone, the other into your aux input.

Click to expand...

I have a 2007 Toyota Tacoma, and I can't find that aux input anywhere. Maybe I should look in the owners manual...


EDit: correction, not 2007, it's a 2005, and definitely no AUX input.

Mesa said:

I have a 2007 Toyota Tacoma, and I can't find that aux input anywhere. Maybe I should look in the owners manual...

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You may have to have it added, if your Tacoma doesn't have it. I believe the Toyota Aux from a dealer costs around $50. Totally worth it, if you want the higher quality sound vs. the weak/tinny sound of an FM transmitter.

Mesa said:

And also, just for confirmation, once I do the conversion process, I would copy the "my documents/my music/itunes" folder in order to back it up?

Click to expand...

Always back your music up someway!

This may sound archaic but I just burn them onto a CD as back up.

The Ween said:

Always back your music up someway!

Click to expand...

Trust me, I do. But it's been about 1.5 years since the last major backup. Music I don't care so much about because I can always get it again. Pictures and other stuff are irreplaceable though.

JacktheRipper said:

This may sound archaic but I just burn them onto a CD as back up.

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Invest in a portable hard drive. Preferably one that is just flash memory that only requi9res the USB plug and not an external power source. I like the Western Digital passports. I've been unlucky with the ones that require external power supply because I keep corrupting the FAT by unplugging too early.