will amarok play .wav files? or how to convert to mp3?

[Josef Lowder]

.
After 20 years of using computers, and never before having 
done anything with music or audio files, I am just beginning 
to explore ... so I have a plethora of questions. 

So far, I have copied some files from a little mp3 player that 
our daughter gave us to my 2006 Mandriva box and was glad to 
find 'amarok' (which I've seen several pluggers mention favorably) 
on my system and delighted to discover that it plays the 20-some 
files I downloaded just fine.  Good start. 

Some time ago, I had also downloaded but never before tried to 
play one .wma file and one .wav file.  Now I find that amarok 
plays the .wma file fine, but not the .wav file. 

So, what is the difference between these various formats 
and how can I convert the .wav file to an .mp3?