How to Play WMA on iPad

2012-03-19 20:48:59 / Posted by Ivan Cook to All About DRM
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If you have a Windows computer or just switch to Mac, you might have some music in Windows Media Audio format, say WMA, a common audio format in Windows. These WMA files are possibly purchased on the Zune Media center of Microsoft or other music sites which are friendly to Windows users. And due to some right protection or other reasons, WMA files are temporarily unavailable for play on Apple products including Macs and iOS devices like new iPad, iPhone and iPod. But don’t worry, there is some solution to make WMA songs playable on Mac OS and iOS devices. Here take playing WMA on iPad for example.

Method 1. If you are using Windows computer.

Actually, iTunes for Windows has already support you to convert WMA to iTunes friendly format like MP3 directly. And once you can import your music into the iTunes software, it means you can also transfer WMA to iPad on the Windows computer. Here is how it works:

Open iTunes and head up to the File menu, choose Add file to library and find the target songs in WMA to import. Then you will get this notice from iTunes:

play wma on iPad

Click Convert then the iTunes will convert WMA to iTunes MP3 automatically.
After the WMA to iTunes MP3 conversion, you can see the item in the iTunes music library. To play these songs on your new iPad, connect your iPad to the computer and sync the file to the iOS device as you used to do.

But if those WMA music are purchased from Zune, Nokia Ovi center or some other media centers, it’s very likely that the songs are DRM protected. If so, you have to remove DRM protection first, then convert these DRM-ed WMA to iPad MP3. Detailed info: How to Convert DRM Protected WMA to MP3 on Windows 7/XP/Vista

Method 2. If you have a Mac

Unfortunately, iTunes for Mac has no WMA to MP3 conversion function. So aiming to convert WMA to iPad MP3, you need a professional Video converter for Mac for help. Here SyncPod for Mac is used. This Mac app can directly convert and transfer WMA audios to your iPad, so you needn’t open iTunes to do the transfer:

Download and launch the Mac SyncPod and connect your iPad to Mac

Download Mac version

Then you can see the main interface like the image below: the left part of the windows shows your new iPad media library and the right shows the iTunes library and local folders on your Mac.

wma on ipad

Drag and drop your WMA files into the Mac app

Click the Folder icon in the right and find the WMA songs on the Mac, then directly drag & drop them over to the left. Then the smart SyncPod for Mac would automatically convert WMA to MP3 and directly transfer to your new iPad.

Play WMA on iPad