How to get mp3 from DRM-WMA by recording from sound card

This approach is not so technical as all the other solutions I have found on the Net, however some experts might say that you’ll loose some quality in the sound, but there is no tech mumbo-jumbo and it’s very easy to do.

The concept is like in the good old days where you had a turntable and a cassette recorder, but now it’s just your WM-player (turntable) and a program that will cut your mp3 (cassette recorder).

First you need a direct sound recorder. I used MP3DirectCut (remember the mp3 encoder Lame when you download it). Familiarize yourself with the program. It’s easy to use and there is extensive guidance in the download.

Then the steps to get mp3 from your drm-wma file are :

1. Open Windows Media Player and find the playlist you want converted.
2. Open mp3DirectCut and set it up for recording.
3. Open your Volume Control, go to Options / Properties and select Recording and then the control “Stereo Mix”.
4. The you select the Record Control and set the volume you want for the recording (see the effect in mp3DirectCut).
5. Set your Preferences in mp3DirectCut and make it ready for recording.
6. And then you start the WM-player and the recorder. Then it will start recording and convert it to mp3 in the folder as you directed. Be aware, that if the “uncoded buffer” is constantly over 5-10% you should probably start over.

Voil?

Lossy DRM removal software also records from your sound car, but with saving ID3 tags. Besides many of such programs can re-record much faster than in real time.

And yes, when you re-record you lose some quality, unless you use a lossless audio codec (which makes your recorded files significantly larger).