MP4 Converters: Get The Most Out Of Your MP4

Chinavasion MP4 Player gadgets

Solar-powered MP4 players, MP3 sunglasses, MP4 watches, MP3 players that work underwater and recording sunglasses with MP4 receivers…it’s incredible what China is producing in the world of personal media players these days!

Some of the items which are now MP3/MP4 capable (click on the images to view the products in a new page:

Something that leaves Westerners more bewildered than amazed when they go to use their MP3s and MP4s is the incredible array of formats that electronics makers choose their players to operate in.

Chinese manufacturers are not only guilty of this particular crime, with it being a major gripe of users of bigger brand-name players like iPod and Zune as well. Recent studies showed that Apple users paid more for downloaded music than PC users, which is’nt surprising when you consider that they’re obliged to pay for tracks in the proprietary formats specific to iPods.

But what exactly is a proprietary music format and how can you use it/get around it?

Proprietary music file formats are those that have specifications that are copyrighted property, rather than being public knowledge. This means communication between electronic devices and certain types of proprietary music files is not smooth or, in some cases, cannot happen at all without the aid of a converter; which is where MP3 and MP4 owners so often get frustrated.

Not all propriety codes can cause the blood to boil however, with Windows Media being so prevalent through the industry that WMA and WMV are on almost every system and computer. While Real Media’s RM used to be non-transferable, it has now started to appear on more players.

Some more commonly-used proprietary codes by Chinese manufactures include MTV, DMV, MPV, AMV and ASF, although there are a multitude of others. Most players will come with a conversion disc which can be installed onto your computer with a little hunting around. If this doesn’t work you could have more luck with the file conversion program, super. There’s good news and bad news for people with players that use the DMV format as there are very few conversion programs on line, but there is a screenshot walk through that could potentially be of assistance.

Even if you’ve got conversion software installed, you still might not be getting the full experience with your player. There has been a plethora of videos released online and, as a result, more people have been getting interested in putting videos from YouTube (and other video hosting sites) onto their MP4 players but have been unable to as files online tend to be SWF or FLV.

Downloading them with programs like Realplayer 11 (it lets you download videos and streaming radio and play them on its player; just don’t expect them to be easily converted for your portable media player) and the firefox add-on download helper is easy but watching them has been more of a chore…especially when you’re on the move.

Thankfully, internet and computer IT guru Jimmy Rusk is on the case as you can clearly see below:

While this may look like a big list it is no means exhaustive and we always welcome comments, hints and suggestions about conversion sites.