Topic: WMA license problem (Read 4496 times)

GRAYDOG · « **on:** January 25, 2004, 10:02:11 am »

I just change My OS to xp pro and I'am having problems with most of My music . it keeps asking for Me to migrate license and won't let me play about half of the music on my computer . almost all of the tracks were ripped from cd's that I own Anybody know what I need to do? ?

DocLotus · « **Reply #1 on:** January 25, 2004, 11:06:21 am »

Just a guess...

Are you using WMA for the music file format ?

Sounds like you had "Secure mode" turned on which is the default.

Secure mode is an anti-copy (or anti-pirate) method used by Microsoft to keep files from bring copied to another computer.

So they think you are trying to copy the files to another computer & prevent them from being read.

Don't really know how to get around this.

Maybe someone else will have a fix.

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #2 on:** January 25, 2004, 11:37:17 am »

I even have all tracks backed up on a ext. H.D. and still no sucsess ? is there away to get this license back?

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #3 on:** January 25, 2004, 12:41:45 pm »

Some WMA files work fine and others go right to the ms web page

DocLotus · « **Reply #4 on:** January 25, 2004, 01:08:47 pm »

Don't know if this will help or not but try this... ?

Under Options/Encoding. Click the Advanced button. Turn off "Enable personal rights management".

I always have it off & have had no problems with WMA files when going from one machine to another. But, I also have never encoded with the "Enable personal rights management" turned on so I don't know what will happen after the fact ?

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #5 on:** January 25, 2004, 04:10:41 pm »

Thanks Doc I tried that and still no dice. What if I change from wma to mp3 on those files?

DocLotus · « **Reply #6 on:** January 25, 2004, 05:34:00 pm »

A couple of thoughts ?

Converting from one format to another usually results in data loss (poorer sound).

Have you tried the Microsoft Knowledgebase http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;rid;kbinfo for a possible solution as I'm sure you are not the first person to encouter this problem ?

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #7 on:** January 26, 2004, 05:11:18 pm »

Thank's again Doc but still no sause.

DocLotus · « **Reply #8 on:** January 26, 2004, 05:28:26 pm »

Jim, Matt you have an answer for GRAYDOG ? ? ?

If you don't get an answer from someone I suggest you repost as another thread.

Start the name with HELP Anyone!!! That may get more attention

JimH · « **Reply #9 on:** January 26, 2004, 06:13:11 pm »

Quote from: DocLotus on January 26, 2004, 05:28:26 pm

\
Start the name with HELP Anyone!!! \

Please DON'T do that. Subjects should describe the problem or the post may be locked or deleted.

JimH · « **Reply #10 on:** January 26, 2004, 06:14:45 pm »

What version of MC are you using? Update if necessary.

WM license retrievals depend on the speed of the server and sometimes they are slow or even absent.

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #11 on:** January 26, 2004, 07:12:34 pm »

Jim , I'am using mc10. the problem is they think it's a new machine but only the os was changed now I have around 15gb. of music i can not play. all the tracks were ripped from cd's and worked fine before the new os was installed. they won't let me migrate the license so I don't know what to do ?

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** January 26, 2004, 07:51:38 pm »

Try the Microsoft site. windowsmedia.com . I think they may have a solution.

rocketsauce · « **Reply #13 on:** January 26, 2004, 07:54:30 pm »

I have never used wma, but I think if you backed up the music files without backing up the license files you're probably out of luck. I do know, however, that Windows Media Player has an option to back up and restore the licenses, but I don't know how or if that applies when you're using other players to play the files.

The solution: don't encode or buy your music in formats that include DRM technology.

Rob

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #14 on:** January 26, 2004, 10:03:30 pm »

Thanks Guy's . I guess I learned the hard way.Rob wich format do you sugest?I got alot of rippin to do

rocketsauce · « **Reply #15 on:** January 26, 2004, 11:10:50 pm »

Again, I don't know all the ins and outs of wma DRM and license issues, so I'm just repeating what I've read on various audio forums.

As for formats, it depends on what you want to be able to do with your files.

MP3 is the most widely supported format and if encoded using the right settings, will sound very good.

Ogg Vorbis is open source, currently only a few portable players support it, though. Better than mp3 at lower bitrates, equal or slightly better than mp3 at higher bitrates.

MPC is generally accepted as having the best sound quality (at higher bitrates) of any of the lossy compression formats, it's good if you will only ever playback files on your pc, it most likely will never have hardware/portable support.

AAC/MP4/M4A/etc will probably eventually replace MP3, other than iTunes it is not widely supported yet. MC has limited support for files created with iTunes.

If you have (or will have) lots of hardrive space available, a lossless format like Monkey's Audio (.ape) is a good choice. One of the MC developers, Matt, is also the developer of Monkey's Audio, so MC has great .ape support. The other "best" choice for lossless would be FLAC, but currently MC does not support that format. The advantage of a lossless format is that it retains the exact sound quality of the original from which it was encoded. You can convert lossless files to any lossy format as needed.

My own library consists of lots of mp3s (mostly from dowloads at EMusic and stuff some friends have given me, none of it from P2P). When it comes to ripping my own cds, i'm kind a torn between vorbis or mpc or just biting the bullet and commiting to lossless, so I have some of all of those formats also.

Rob

KingSparta · « **Reply #16 on:** January 27, 2004, 05:57:15 am »

Quote

wich format do you sugest?

MP3, just use highest CBR 256+ or VBR Highest setting

you get very good quality.

nothing wrong with windows media if the license thing is turned off.

JimH · « **Reply #17 on:** January 27, 2004, 07:14:12 am »

Quote from: rocketsauce on January 26, 2004, 11:10:50 pm

If you have (or will have) lots of hardrive space available, a lossless format like Monkey's Audio (.ape) is a good choice.

APE or any lossless format is clearly the best choice.

You can store about 3 CD's per GB. It's worth buying a new drive for.

rocketsauce · « **Reply #18 on:** January 27, 2004, 11:46:14 am »

Quote

nothing wrong with windows media if the license thing is turned off.

Unless, of course, you forget or don't know that you need to turn rights management off or back up your licenses.

[paranoia]And, just because Microsoft allows you to turn off rights management and freely move non-DRMed files around now doesn't mean that will always be so in future versions of Windows.[/paranoia]

Rob

Listening to: 'Light/Get Real' from 'Oh World' by 'Paul Rutherford' on Media Center 10

DocLotus · « **Reply #19 on:** January 27, 2004, 12:46:22 pm »

Hi Graydog;

Just thought of something.

I did a Google search on...
"Remove security from WMA files" & got a lot of hits.

One site has a WMA converter that will convert all WMA files to Wav format then back to WMA removing the security rights management in the process.

Check out...
http://greatware.net/entertainment/mp3/mp3/wma_converter.htm

I also saw some sites that have a WMA security decoder. This might also work.

Looks like you are not the only one to run into this problem.

I recommend you do a Google search. I think your answer is there.

It will save from having to re-rip all your files.

Good luck

rocketsauce · « **Reply #20 on:** January 27, 2004, 01:10:00 pm »

There are several pieces of software out there that will convert DRMed wma to wav. The problem with most of them is that if the files were created/DRMed with WMP7 or higher (IIRC), the DRM prevents the conversion if you don't have the licenses. It's kind of a catch-22.

Rob

Listening to: 'Oh World' from 'Oh World' by 'Paul Rutherford' on Media Center 10

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #21 on:** January 27, 2004, 05:58:51 pm »

Thank's Guy's , I think it is time to do some house cleaning anyway. so reripping might be a good thing when I first started saving music on My hard drive I was concerned about space and some of the tracks have (HAD) a low bit rate so maybe I will take Jim's appoach and get another HD as far as wich format I think I will try afew of them and see what works best for me and it won't be WMA .. Thank's again for the time thoughts

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #22 on:** January 27, 2004, 06:07:31 pm »

One more thing is there away to find all of the tracks with the bad license(please,please say yes)

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Author Topic: WMA license problem (Read 4496 times)