Is an iTunes giftcard useful for a teen who has a PC (e.g., not a MAC) and an MP3 player (not an iPOD)?

Similar questions: iTunes giftcard teen PC MAC MP3 player iPOD.

Consumer Electronics > MP3 Players & Accessories.

It's half-useful iTunes is available for Windows, no problem. Just head to itunes.com. I've never had a Mac, and have been using iTunes for a couple years now.

The big obstacle to overcome is the fact that the songs downloaded from iTunes will not (natively) play on any MP3 player other than an iPod. Your teen can play the songs on his/her computer just fine, but cannot directly transfer them to the MP3 player. The way around that is annoying: First, you need a collection of writable blank CDs.

Burn a CD-full of the iTunes songs to create an Audio CD (that is, a CD that would play in a CD player, not just a collection of the files). Then you can take that Audio CD and rip it, using iTunes or really any of a hundred other programs. When you rip the CD, make sure you select the option to rip them as MP3s, not AACs or any other format.

Those MP3s that you've ripped from the Audio CD can then be transferred to the MP3 player. All-in-all, I'd recommend finding out which music service the teen does use for his/her MP3 player, and buy a giftcard to that service instead.

ITunes is available for Windows, but not non-Apple players. There is an iTunes for Windows program, so the teen would be able to download music and play it on the PC, but not on the MP3 player. Apple's Encrypted AAC format does not play on anything Apple hasn't licensed.

The only portable players that it works with are the various iPods, the iPhone, and select very-limited Motorola cell phones. You might want to check into whether the MP3 player is a PlaysForSure-compatible Windows Media File player as well. If so, you can buy a Napster card for the same price that gets access the same music in that and encryption file format.

Napster also sells 3-month subscription cards that would give unlimited access to most of the music on the service for the time frame purchased, but leave with nothing playable after the subscription lapses.

Not very useful. ITunes does run on a Windows PC, not only on a Mac, but it’s meant to be used with an iPod. Most tracks that the iTunes store sells are wrapped with DRM so they can only be played from inside iTunes or on an iPod.

DRM is the Digital Restrictions Monster, a sinister beast whose only job is to make sure you get as little value for your money as possible.(*) With another brand of MP3 player, the only way to listen to most tracks from the iTunes store is to burn them to a CD first and then rip it back onto the computer in another format, which causes some loss of sound quality. Some tracks are now available in a high-quality format without DRM -- Apple calls it "iTunes Plus" -- but only a minority of them, and even then, they’re still encoded with AAC, which means most MP3 players still won’t be able to play them. If you’re buying the gift, I’d recommend using a site like eMusic that sells pure MP3 files with no DRM.

Those sites don’t have a lot of big-name music, though, so you might want to find out exactly which kind of player the lucky teen has: if it supports "PlaysForSure", which is Microsoft's DRM system, then there other stores (Rhapsody and Napster come to mind) that sell DRM’d tracks in a format the player will be able to use. (* OK, it’s actually short for "Digital Rights Management", but it "manages" your rights the same way a prison "manages" your freedom. ) .

No, because you could do better by getting a CD gift card so that.. The teen can rip the CD to load songs on their MP3 player, and retain the cd as a music archive (should the computer drive fail or the mp3 player fry). They have the added benefit of being able to have the correct lyrics to the songs they're singing along to, as well :) .

2 TaradinoC, regarding your answer "Not very useful. ": I agree with everything you said, except for one minor detail - the unprotected "iTunes Plus" AAC files can be converted to MP3s from within iTunes itself, after they're downloaded. No need to burn and rip like you would with protected AACs.

Once they're converted to MP3s, they can be transferred to an MP3 player.

TaradinoC, regarding your answer "Not very useful. ": I agree with everything you said, except for one minor detail - the unprotected "iTunes Plus" AAC files can be converted to MP3s from within iTunes itself, after they're downloaded. No need to burn and rip like you would with protected AACs.

Once they're converted to MP3s, they can be transferred to an MP3 player.

" "Do ITunes Gift Cards work with mp3 players.

Can I up load my mp3 to an IPOD or do I need to buy the songs from itunes.

Best to buy, iPod or MP3 Player, Difference.

Do ITunes Gift Cards work with mp3 players.

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