m4a audio codec problems

[tabako]

I am trying to get .m4a music files to play in windows media player. Tried to play a song, windows media player gives me an error message saying that I don't have the right codec installed on my computer. I look on various sites, find a free codec. Good news: the song will now play. Bad news: it only plays after giving me an error message. In addition to this any time I have m4a songs in a playlist, windows media player will automatically skip every m4a song (it assumes that the song cannot be played). Only when I choose to play one song at a time, or when the last song in a playlist is an m4a will windows media player actually play the song (along with an error message).

If anybody has a way for me to be able to play these songs without any problems, or can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[rograndom]

use itunes?

[tabako]

that was my secondary plan, but itunes couldn't install cause one of my system files is messed up, and i don't know how to copy my playlist from media player to itunes.