What Is the Best Music Program for Windows?

[Duane Thomas]

But I think your basic problem is Vista. I know this seems totally non-helpful, but anytime anyone brings me a computer problem and I see it and Vista is involved, I assume that is the cause of the issue. Also how current is your iTunes version? That may need to be upgraded. But you're using windows vista drivers to run the dvd/cd burner and that could very well be your issue. Get windows7 if you can; it's what vista SHOULD have been in the first place.

Bill,

Right now my system is running 32-bit Vista. Is Windows7 a 32-bit program, or do you have the option between 32- and 64-bit versions? Is there any reason I couldn't switch my 32-bit Vista system over to Windows7? How involved is the changeover, and how long does it take - assuming it's possible, natch?

[wgnoyes]

There are 32bit and 64bit versions of Win7. Just get a win7 32bit upgrade from egghead.com or some similar computer tech place.

[Duane Thomas]

So this is a "buy it" situation and not a "free software available online" situation?

[alma]

Just change the WMP settings to ensure that it converts CD and AAC files to MP3 instead.

[wgnoyes]

So this is a "buy it" situation and not a "free software available online" situation?

Yes, but this is more than just iTunes misbehaving. Windows vista never should have been released as it was. They should have sat on XP another couple of years and just put out windows 7.

[wgnoyes]

At one time you couldn't get music out of iTunes if it had the digitial rights enabled. Basically, if you bought it off of the iTunes store, you could only listen to it in iTunes. I don't know if that is still the case. I always used Windows Media Player.

I don't ever remember that. I never had iTunes tell me I couldn't burn a cd, even back to 2005 on xp. And you could also always also synch it over to your iPod, which was the original reason for iTunes being written. But all iTunes music is drm-free now (has been for years and years) so it's a non-issue.

Edited February 26, 2014 by wgnoyes

[bountyhunter]

10 albums and that's it.

Other than this pesky "can't burn CDs" problem, I really have very few complaints about iTunes.

There are lots of good FREE programs for PC to burn CDs. I got:

CD Burner XP

Cyberlink Power 2 Go

[bountyhunter]

At one time you couldn't get music out of iTunes if it had the digitial rights enabled. Basically, if you bought it off of the iTunes store, you could only listen to it in iTunes. I don't know if that is still the case. I always used Windows Media Player.

I don't ever remember that. I never had iTunes tell me I couldn't burn a cd, even back to 2005 on xp. And you could also always also synch it over to your iPod, which was the original reason for iTunes being written. But all iTunes music is drm-free now (has been for years and years) so it's a non-issue.

I quit buying from Itunes because it was a royal PITA. The music files I bought were not MP3, they were LOCKED MP4 files so I could not edit them or do anything until I ripped them off to an external CD into a WAV file, then reloaded them onto my PC. What a waste of my time.

[bountyhunter]

So this is a "buy it" situation and not a "free software available online" situation?

Yes, but this is more than just iTunes misbehaving. Windows vista never should have been released as it was. They should have sat on XP another couple of years and just put out windows 7.

Or better yet, just fixed the bugs in XP and never released Vista or Seven.

[Duane Thomas]

So this is a "buy it" situation and not a "free software available online" situation?

Yes, but this is more than just iTunes misbehaving. Windows vista never should have been released as it was. They should have sat on XP another couple of years and just put out windows 7.

My girlfriend is a high-end computer programmer, and she said much the same thing.

[Duane Thomas]

At one time you couldn't get music out of iTunes if it had the digitial rights enabled. Basically, if you bought it off of the iTunes store, you could only listen to it in iTunes. I don't know if that is still the case. I always used Windows Media Player.

I don't ever remember that. I never had iTunes tell me I couldn't burn a cd, even back to 2005 on xp. And you could also always also synch it over to your iPod, which was the original reason for iTunes being written. But all iTunes music is drm-free now (has been for years and years) so it's a non-issue.

I quit buying from Itunes because it was a royal PITA. The music files I bought were not MP3, they were LOCKED MP4 files so I could not edit them or do anything until I ripped them off to an external CD into a WAV file, then reloaded them onto my PC. What a waste of my time.

Never had that experience, myself. I've always been able to edit anything I bought off the iTunes Store. Not that I do much of that. The vast majority of my music has been downloaded off CDs. At least I can still do that.