Converting Audio to PSP Formats

The PSP supports a fair number of audio formats, but some popular formats, such as OGG (Ogg Vorbis) and M4P (the protected ACC format used by Apple's iTunes), are left out in the cold. Also, the PSP can't handle protected WMA files, which you'll normally acquire by purchasing albums online from an alternative store to iTunes (such as Wal-Mart Music Downloads or MSN Music).

The downside is that there's no easy way to convert protected M4P or WMA files to unprotected formats, such as MP3 and plain old WMA. Occasionally, a method pops up online that requires you to use several audio-file-conversion programs in succession, and not all those programs are free. The most popular method is simply to use iTunes to burn music to an audio CD and then use something like Windows Media Player 10 to rip it, just as you would rip a CD you bought at the store. Although this method results in some loss of fidelity, it's better than not being able to carry your music around with you.

To be frank, I'm not sure about the legality of this method, and neither is anyone else. The copyright laws are too fuzzy. I don't see a problem, however, with making your audio files portable on the device of your choice, as long as you're not uploading copyrighted music to a server to distribute to any freeloader who comes along. What's the difference between hauling a CD around with a portable CD player and taking the exact same songs (which you've already paid for) with you on a PSP? If such a practice ever is specifically declared illegal, I wouldn't be surprised to see that law quickly challenged in federal court.

If an audio file is unprotected but was encoded in a format the PSP doesn't recognize, you can use the amazing dBpowerAMP Music Converter (available at www.dbpoweramp.com) to convert it. This program, which is produced by a company called illustrate, is free for 30 days, after which you have to pay all of $14 for it. It's worth every cent.

Download dBPowerAMPwhich even in its preregistration state is free from adware and nagsand install it. Depending on the format you want to convert, you may need to download the proper codec (coder/decoder) and install that, too. You can get codecs for dBpowerAMP at Codec Central: www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm.

Install any add-on codecs in the default directories so that dBpowerAMP can find them easily.

Suppose that I plan to convert an OGG file to an MP3 file. dBpowerAMP comes with an MP3 encoder, but not with OGG codecs. I have to visit Codec Central (Figure B.5) and download the Ogg Vorbis codec.

Figure B.5. Codec Central.

To continue this example, I'll fire up dBpowerAMP and convert the OGG file to an MP3. Here's how:

1.	Launch dBpowerAMP Music Converter with the desktop icon or through the Start menu. The program starts with a file browser (Figure B.6). Figure B.6. dBpowerAMP's file browser.
2.	Navigate to and select the files you want to convert. You can choose several files, or even an entire playlist, to convert at the same time.
3.	Click Open to proceed. The dBpowerAMP interface appears (Figure B.7). Here, you can make all sorts of selections, including which format you want to convert your file(s) to, the bit rate (which determines the sound quality; higher bit rates sound better but result in larger files), and the output folder. Figure B.7. This interface contains options for output-file quality.
4.	When you've set the options as desired, click Convert to convert the files. A conversion dialog box will appear, displaying a progress bar.

When the conversion is finished, the dialog box disappears. You can find the converted file in the folder to which you instructed dBpowerAMP to output it. That's all there is to it!

You can use dBpowerAMP to convert scores of files simultaneously; the time it takes is determined largely by the CPU power of your computer and by the size of the song file. Therefore, if all your songs are encoded at a low bit rate, and you have a honkin' fast CPU in your PC, the process will go faster than if your PC is crawling along with an old 266 MHz CPU and your songs are encoded at a very high bit rate or aren't compressed at all.

If you plan to upgrade your computer in the near future, try this: Pick an audio file, and convert it to a different format while timing the process with a stopwatch. After you upgrade, convert the same file to the same format, and time the process again. You should see a difference, especially if you're going from a fairly old CPU to a brand-new one.