iTunes music file formats

[#1 Sailor Scout]

Long story short, I want to collect the ol' school hip-hop & rap that I can't even find in stores in my town.

I want to download iTunes for my laptop, but I'm not sure what format the files are saved in. Apple's website doesn't help much.

Are they saved as MP3's or is it some other format? If so, any way for me to convert the files into MP3's? I have a very solid (build & sound quality) MP3 player that I bought for $55 & I want to keep using it. I really don't want another iPod; I've had bad happenings with the past 3 I've owned.

[nnorton44]

iTunes uses AAC

[Philipio]

iTunes utilizes DRM, so your music will be locked to iTunes, much unlike an MP3. The easiest way around this is burning the music to a CD and immediately ripping it to MP3 if that's the format you want.