FORMATTING IT IS SAYING THAT FORMAT NOT RECOGNIZED BUT THE MUSIC IS WMA WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SUPPORTED FORMAT. PLEASE HELP BECAUSE WHEN I JUST TRANSFER TO THE THING IT SAY NO AUTHORITY SO I AM REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH WINDOWS MEDIA BUT THIS IS THE ERROR THAT I RECEIVE AND THUS I CANNOT LISTEN TO MY MUSIC OR USE THE STUPID THING.

Song Formats for Mp3 Players Explained, Part II
by Tha Mp3 Doctor

WMA files are special. There are two types of WMA file, and the Mp3 or digital Audio Player documentation will not always tell which of these two types the Mp3 player will recognize. Type I is a non-licensed, or non-DRM-protected WMA file. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, and it is Microsoft’s copyright system for music files. If you have a type of Mp3 player that will only accept non-DRM protected files, the product specs for your player will NOT mention the words "DRM" or "Windows Plays ForSure" on them (unless they are using it in the negative, such as "this player does NOT support DRM encryption"). In MOST cases (there are more and more exceptions), Windows Media Player will convert songs from CD’s that you personally bought from the store into non-DRM encrypted WMA format.

The second type of WMA file is a DRM-encrypted WMA file, and there are several subtypes of these. Every DRM-encrypted file can have "play rights," "burn rights," and "transfer rights." "Play rights" mean you can play the song on your computer, "burn rights" mean you can burn the song to CD, and "transfer rights" mean you can transfer the song to your Mp3 player. Once again, not all WMA files are created equal. If you have a BASIC subscription to a music service such as Napster, you may download songs that have "play rights" – you can play them on your computer without any problem; but they may lack burn rights and transfer rights – so you cannot burn them to CD, or transfer them to your Mp3 player without incident. The solution here is to upgrade your music service to the premium, more expensive subscription that includes burn rights and transfer rights.

Then there are "fixed-term" licenses and "unlimited" licenses on WMA files. A fixed-term license will expire after so many days, months, or years; and will require you to resynchronize your songs to the music service or to your computer in order to continue playing them. This is a key reason behind songs "disappearing." Napster and Rhapsody are two examples of music services with fixed-term licenses. You must resynchronize your Mp3 player to your computer every 30 days, and you must keep you music service subscription active. If you let your subscription lapse, then the songs that were once working will no longer be playable. Once again, the only remedies are to renew your music service subscription (legal), convert those songs into a different format that the Mp3 player will recognize (possibly illegal), or to use DRM-removal software (illegal and unreliable).

One word needs to be said about burning your own personal CD’s and transferring them to the Mp3 player. CD’s naturally put song files into CDA format. Most Mp3 players do not recognize CDA format. So you will have to use Windows Media Player (easiest, IMO) or some other software to convert the CDA files into Mp3, WMA, or some other format that your Mp3 player recognizes, BEFORE you can transfer them to the Mp3 player.

Real Audio files also have an encryption system, and may not work with most Mp3 players – check your product documentation.

Audiobooks are in their own format and bring their own special problems which fall outside the scope of this article.

There are a ton of music services out there. iTunes uses AAC format. Napster, Rhapsody, Bearshare, Spiral Frog, and many others use DRM-protected WMA format nowadays. Limewire and Morpheus generally use Mp3 or non-DRM-encrypted files. Double check the formats that your player will support BEFORE choosing a music service. Conversely, if you already have a music service, choose an mp3 player that’s right for your particular service. Note: most store workers do not have the faintest idea of what I have been discussing in this article, so don’t trust their judgment – educate yourself first.

AS A GENERAL RULE OF THUMB (as always, there are exceptions), all Mp3 players recognize the Mp3 file format. The Mp3 file format is the least problematic of all the file formats. It takes up less space on your Mp3 player than most file formats – so you can load more songs onto your player than if you were using other formats. So, if you download all of your songs into Mp3 format, or tell Windows Media Player to convert your own CD’s into Mp3 format, then you will rarely go wrong.

Song Formats for Mp3 Players Explained, Part I
By Tha Mp3 Doctor
I have seen quite a few threads around Fixya in which the stated problem is that the Mp3 or Digital Audio Player will not load the songs; will appear to load the songs but will not actually play them in the Mp3 player once disconnected from computer; will skip the songs on the player, or show only “0:00” for file length; songs “disappear” all of a sudden (although this particular problem can be caused for many reasons not covered in this article); your store-bought/burned/ripped CD’s will not load into your Mp3 player; or get the error message “File Format Not Supported.” All of these problems occur because the user is trying to download a song format that the player does not recognize. Every music file is in a certain format. The most common music file formats are Mp3, WMA, AAC, WAV, RA, etc. Each Mp3 player only recognizes a certain number of these formats. Every Mp3 Player is different. You will have to check your Mp3 player’s product specifications (specs) or user’s manual to find out which formats your particular Mp3 player recognizes. When you try to download or sync the wrong file format, you will get one of the errors that I mentioned above.
First things first. If you want to know what file type you have, then you must find the location of the individual music file on your computer, right click the title of the song, and select the option “Properties” from the menu. If you do not know how to do this, you will need to contact the manufacturer of your computer or go to www.microsoft.com. For all types of file except RA, RAX, and WMA, the “General” Tab under Properties will auto-populate. If your computer recognizes the file format, it will say something like “MPEG-3,” “Windows Media Audio” (Windows Media Player), “Real Audio” (Real Player or Real Network’s Audio), or “Advanced Audio Coding” (iTunes) or some other such designator. If your computer does not recognize the format, then you will just see a generic “Audio File,” and will have to download additional software. With WMA and some RAX files, there will also be a “License,” “Digital Rights Management,” or “Media Usage Rights” tab. I will explain these licensing tabs later, in the discussion on WMA files.
For every type of file other than WMA, the format error is pretty straightforward. You are trying to load a completely incompatible file format that is not recognized by the Mp3 player. To give you an example, there are currently no Philips GoGear Mp3 players that will load songs from the iTunes music service. The reason they will not transfer or play correctly is that the GoGear is that iTunes gives the users their songs in .AAC format. The GoGear cannot recognize .AAC format. To resolve this problem, you will have to convert the AAC song file into Mp3 format, or some other format that the GoGear recognizes (Note to the law-abiding: converting a copyright protected file into another format might be illegal. If you are concerned, I would just re-download the same song in Mp3 or another recognized file format – this will require a separate music service other than iTunes, in this example).
Please Read Part II for Critical Information...