Converting WMA Files in iTunes, Locating a Photo in iPhoto and .Mac Groups :: My First Mac - Help Buying and Getting Started with Your New Mac

Converting WMA Files in iTunes, Locating a Photo in iPhoto and .Mac Groups

Quick Scan

Drag your photo to the Desktop to use in other applications.

Use iTunes on your PC to convert WMAs to MP3.

PC users can be a part of your .Mac Group too.

How Do I Transfer My Music?

Getting Rid of the Side Bar, Buying RAM, and Moving Photos From Email to iPhoto

To .mac Or Not To .mac

All Your CDs into iTunes

Converting WMA Files in iTunes, Locating a Photo in iPhoto and .Mac Groups

By: Chris Kerins
Published: Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Categories: My First Mac Q&A

Welcome to My First Mac's Q&A column. It is said that Macs are easier to use, but they are still complex in their own right. Here are a few questions we have received lately from readers like you. Sometimes we reformat the questions for clarity and presentation.

This week we have questions about converting WMAs to work in iTunes, getting your photos out of iPhoto and who can use .Mac groups.

		How do I find my photos that are in iPhoto if I want to use them for something else like uploading to my Gmail account?

		If the use is a one way trip, I suggest you just drag the photos you want onto the Desktop and then do what you want with them from there. Dragging a photo file to the Desktop makes a copy. It doesn't take the file out of iPhoto. Your clue that it is being copied is the little green gum drop with the white plus sign (+) on it next to your cursor. On the Mac, this means "copy". Now if you want to find the original photo file on your hard drive, the best way is to control-click (right-click) on the file and select "Show File". This will open a Finder window with the file in its folder within the iPhoto library structure. Apple really doesn't want you to go mucking around in the iPhoto library files, so they make this task difficult to do. In fact, with iPhoto '08, they have hidden the contents of the iPhoto library from view in a package. On the plus side, they have made the top uses for a photo really accessible with commands from within iPhoto, including editing it in an external editor like PhotoShop. Just keep exploring to find out more about what you can do with iPhoto.

		I am switching from using a PC with a lot of WMA music files. How do I play my old music on my new Mac?

		If you can't or won't re-rip your CDs to MP3 on your Mac, I suggest that before you bring your music files to your Mac, you convert them on your PC. iTunes for Windows will convert unprotected WMA files to either MP3 or AAC. I recommend converting to MP3 to make sure they can be used with the most devices. Protected files (meaning you bought them from an online store like MTV's Urge) cannot be converted. You must burn them to an audio CD, then re-import them like a typical CD and enter the song ID info by hand. To use iTunes for Windows to convert your WMA files to MP3, first go to iTunes Preferences>Importing and select Import Using: MP3 Encoder. Now, just add your WMA files to iTunes by dragging them to your library or using the Import menu item. iTunes will convert them on the fly for you. You can also use a third party application such as Digital Media Converter to do the conversion work for you. Once you have converted MP3s, bring them to iTunes on your Mac as described here in How Do I Transfer Music from My PC to My Mac?

		I would like to start a Group using .Mac, but is it only for Mac users or can people access it on their PC too?

		Apple could do a lot more in explaining Groups clearly and how they work on their website. You need a .Mac account to set up a group, but you can invite anyone to be a part of it whether they use a Mac or a PC. They will need an Apple ID if they don't already have one from using iTunes, but it doesn't cost anything or require anything on their computer. There are a few perks in Groups for .Mac members though. You can access the Group files in your iDisk instead of through your web browser and any Mac user can subscribe to the group's calendar via iCal.

You can send in your questions via the Contact page or email us at editor[AT]myfirstmac[DOT]com. Because of the volume of email we receive, we can't reply to each and every question personally. We read each question that comes in and reply to the ones that fit the scope of this column. We also save some questions for future columns.

If you need your specific question answered right away, try asking it in the Comments section of a related article.


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Your Comments:

I almost forgot about the .mac groups. I still have never used it. I should check it out.

Darrin
08/22/2007 at 05:56 AM

I really dislike it that you can't touch the originals anymore with iPhoto '08. It took me some time to figure out how to get the pictures someplace else, so I could zip them and mail them.

Rob Sanders
08/22/2007 at 07:50 AM

Rob, you can see the originals rather easily: right-click (or control-click) on a photo and choose Show File. I suggest, though, you don't bother: just select the photos you want and choose File > Export to place copies anywhere you want on your computer--you can zip and mail those, while leaving your originals safe and untouched.

Michael Cohen
08/22/2007 at 09:33 AM