making the switch

So, I'm planning to get an iPod in the next month or so, and in preparation I'm trying to actually get used to iTunes. I've had iTunes on my computer for some time now, but I haven't really used it that much (I mostly downloaded it so I could use the feature on the music store that lets you look at the playlists from radio stations -- I love that!). But, I'm starting to think I'd better make the switch from Windows Media Player. For one thing, we all know that anything from Apple is better than anything from Microsoft. Secondly, I like that iTunes uses standard file formats (like mp3 and AAC), since that makes it easier to work with the files in other programs, many of which don't support wma format. And, besides all that, if I'm going to have an iPod, then I'd like to actually know how to use iTunes so that all my music is in it when I want to synch.

The biggest problem I've had is that I've downloaded a lot of music from Walmart.com, which downloads as protected wma files -- which, of course, iTunes can't convert. So, for all of those, I'm having to write them to CDs first and then re-insert the CD so that iTunes will be able to rip the files. Sheesh! What a pain! But, I expect it to all be worthwhile in the end.