Online Music Service Download Issues - Frustrated

I am not sure if I need the hardware of software forum. I obviously posted here. I have a post in on the Creative forum but I am giving it the sophmore try here. Here it goes . . .

Man am I frustrated - really frustrated. Here is my conundrum:
I have a Zen Micro. I want to purchase music online. It is a frikin' maze of problem solving. I download from iTunes, they have some sort of proprietary format that my Zen won't play. Okay - no problem. I go to Yahoo music. You have to pay to subscribe and then download. They are wma anyway. Napster is wma as well. Walmart music is wma too. I would try Rhapsody, but I think you have to pay to subscribe and download as well. It just occurred to me - Sony has a music download site as well? I will check them next. I tried converting the Napster wma into an MP3 but I got a message the Creative software cannot convert the file. Arghhhhh.

So - what is the easy way? Is there a site I can pay and download mp3 music files and transfer them to my Zen Micro? Or is there a freeware converter to convert wma files into mp3 files - that is if the downloaded files do not have a voodoo whammy curse on them that prevents them from being converted.

Might "Play for Sure" fix this? As far as I can tell this is for subscription services, not for single downloads.

Thanks for any help.

 

Wal Mart, Napster, Yahoo! Music are part of Plays For Sure, which uses Microsofts DRM protected WMA format, which your Zen will play. There is no program that will transcode a protected WMA file. The closest thing is to burn it as part of an Audio CD and then rip it into a different format. Allofmp3.com is one of the most popular music sites that offer non-DRM music in your choice of formats and compression.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I was just hoping for MP3 downloads. I guess the providers have to resort to the kinds of things everyone explained (and I suspected) which is fine - I respect their desire to protect the rights and material of the companies and the artists. Back in the day before downloading was illegal, I did download songs and use them as I wished. However, once it was illegal I did not do it anymore. I guess things just are not that easy anymore and as I stated, I respect both the law and the rights of the artists. So I guess I am willing to jump through some hoops to stay legit. If that means using .wma files, so be it.


Again thanks for the replies.