Hi all. I downloaded the iTunes software onto my windows xp computer. I managed to download a music album that I bought in the ITunes store. this is the first time that I buy music from the iTunes store. the album is currently busy downloading. In what format is the music? Is it mp3? and where on my hard drive is the music downloaded?? If its mp3, would I be able to use winamp to play the downloaded songs? I am more comfortable to use winamp to listen to music. Many thanks for any help.
Comments
the files are in .M4A format.
the files are in .M4A format. You can go thru the various tabs in the Preferences dialog (it's either Control-Comma or Control-J) and one of them shows the location of your iTunes library. By default, music and other files are stored there so you could theoretically use a player like Windows Media Player (which handles .M4A files) to play these. However, iTunes is meant to play these files, not just be a download platform. Since the interface will be a bit strange for windows users who rely upon the keyboard, I'd strongly urge you to listen to Jonathan Mosen's podcasts on using iTunes -- you can find them on the Freedom Scientific website -- I believe they are FSCasts 49 and 50. some details have changed but the overall explanations are still valid.
I found iTunes to be slow as molasses on my XP machine but stil useable. It's much faster on windows 7.
Anyway, good luck!
RE: ITunes music question on a xp computer
The actual music bought from iTunes is located inside your music folder. Go to music, iTunes, iTunes Media, Music. You will find your purchases there.
The other commenter is correct as it relates to the FS podcasts. They will give you a good feel for the basics of iTunes, although some of the specifics may have changed now as iTunes has been updated a few times since the creation of the podcasts. They will be helpful nonetheless.
One of the things that I do after purchasing something from the iTunes store is to copy the purchased item from the iTunes music folder into the regular location, i.e., the Windows music folder. This way I can use this copy to play via Windows Media player. This may seem a bit redundant, but, after using iTunes for a while, I discovered that it breaks things down differently than I prefer. For example, all of my non-iTunes purchased Bob Seger albums are placed into one folder called Bob Seger. ITunes likes to break the albums out further and make additional folders for Seger's music such as Bob Seger Silver Bullet Band, Bob Seger The Motor City Horns, etc. I do not like this form of file management so I choose to sacrifice disk space on the PC and copy the iTunes purchased music into the mainh Windows music folder into my own file management system, instead.
Hope this helps you a bit.