Probably none of us has ever encoded our music into the WMA format, but most of our cousins have. iTunes refuses to manage WMA files (just for a marketing reason?), but here's how we can fool it:
- Install Flip4Mac's WM Components (from their download page), required to play WMA in QuickTime, the Finder's preview column, and many other applications -- but not iTunes!
- Open your WMA file in QuickTime Player (Pro version required), then save as reference movie.
- Drag the newly created .mov file onto iTunes. Now you can play it as you would any other song.
Some metadata is copied to the QuickTime file, and you can edit/add tags in iTunes. Remember to keep the original WMA files in place, as your reference .mov files still point to them. If you don't mind one more conversion step, you can then liberate your WMAs within iTunes. Select your WMA songs in iTunes, go to the Advanced Menu, click Convert selection to MP3/AAC, then enjoy your music on the iPod you just won at Mac OS X hints.