From: nntp.mbourne@spamgourmet.com   
      
   bilsch01 wrote:   
   ...   
   > People in this thread mentioned iTunes as a source for music. What   
   > format does iTunes use. Is it a simple matter to buy it and convert it   
   > to mp3? I want to do everything using a PC.   
      
   All the tracks I've downloaded from iTunes are .m4a files, which I   
   believe is an MP4 container, with AAC or ALAC codec.  I haven't   
   purchased any tracks from them for about 5 years, so that might have   
   changed in the meantime.  If no-one else can confirm otherwise, you   
   could buy one and try it with your setup, before committing to more.   
      
   I can play the files I have in Rhythmbox, Celluloid and VLC without any   
   conversion, although I think I had to install the   
   `gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad` package to enable that.  That name might   
   sound bad, but I think `gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly` is needed for MP3 files.   
      
    From the descriptions of the packages, the bad naming refers to:   
   >  GStreamer Bad Plug-ins is a set of plug-ins that aren't up to par compared   
   >  to the rest. They might be close to being good quality, but they're missing   
   >  something - be it a good code review, some documentation, a set of tests, a   
   >  real live maintainer, or some actual wide use.   
      
   and ugly:   
   >  This package contains plugins from the "ugly" set, a set of   
   >  good-quality plug-ins that might pose distribution problems.   
      
   I think "distribution problems" means the licenses might not be open   
   source, or there might be patent/trademark issues preventing the plugins   
   from being freely distributed in some countries.   
      
   --   
   Mark.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)