I’m trying to use Apple’s slick iTunes program to copy my music CDs into MP3 format so I can download them to both my MP3-capable cellphone and my Sony PSP, but it seems like on the Mac it wants to produce AAC and on the PC it prefers WMA formats. What gives, and how do I change it?
I’m also a bit fan of iTunes, I have to admit, and find it a great app, particularly for free (you can download it from the Apple site: download iTunes), but I have also found what you’re saying to be frustrating.
Fortunately, if you don’t mind digging into the preferences, you can change your default music format forevermore and find that every CD you rip is ready to go onto any MP3 player you’d like, from a Sony PSP to a Nokia or Motorola MP3-capable cellphone.
On the PC, choose Controls –> Preferences…, then click on the Advanced tab and go to Importing:
You can see here that the default format on my PC is AAC (sounds like yours is probably set to WMA, Windows Media Audio). Click on the “Import Using” pop-up and you’ll see that MP3 is one of the possible formats. Choose it, and click “OK”.
Now let’s experiment by actually ripping a CD. I’ll choose one of my favorite Sting CDs from my library for this task, Sacred Love . I insert it into the PC and after just a few seconds it appears in iTunes and all I have to do is click on the “Import CD” button on the top right and it’ll start copying all the music onto my computer:
It takes a few minutes, but eventually I have a copy of all the music files in the folder (ready for this?) My Documents / My Music / iTunes / iTunes Music / Artist / Album. Here’s what I mean:
Though the filename suffix isn’t shown, these are all in MP3 format, just as we’d hoped, and any of them can easily be copied onto the MP3 player of your choice.
If you’re running on a Macintosh, the process is only slightly different. The Preferences option can be found on the iTunes menu item, and once you get there, again choose “Advanced” and “Importing”:
Again, you can easily choose MP3 as the default format, rather than AAC, and you’ll be in good shape.
That should get you going with iTunes. If you are using Windows Media Player instead, please see the following to learn how to change it to create MP3 rips instead:
• Producing MP3 files with Windows Media Player
Excellent description. Cheers mate.
Brilliant post, thanks Dave.
For those who didn´t find the preferences-Advanced-import etc tabs, you have to look around they are not necessarily where Dave says they are (eg Gerry). I found mine under Edit-Preferences-General-Import Settings. Your case may be different again.
Thanks again Dave.
Thankyou so much for this info. Helped me out heaps
The direction say: On the PC, choose Controls –> Preferences…, then click on the Advanced tab and go to Importing:
I first invoke iTunes, I assume? I do what the directions say, but none of this happens. Why?
Gerry
How can I create my own personal CD? I want a CD with more than one artist for my own personal use.
Denis, I guess my question is why do you care about how the files in the iTunes library are organized? Yes they’re all split by artist (which in this case is per featured guest artist) but in iTunes itself it’s still showing up as a single CD, right?
I am trying to import the Santana”supernatural” album from CD into itunes. It creates a folder for each track based on the artist
Santana.fea Dave Mathews
Santana.fea Eric Clapton
Santana.fea Everlast
Is there a way to get all the tracks into one folder
How can I load a song from ITunes that I bought on to a slideshop I made in Photo Shop for my English Project.
Thanks!
Darrell
Hi,
I have copied hundreds of CD’s onto Itunes on my Mac book pro.
I have created a separate playlist titled MP3 tracks and have put all of the songs I want to convert into this new playlist. How do I convert these AAC tracks into MP3 files please.
Thanks, Steve
This may help some folks who are trying to burn an MP3 audio disk only to get a message that some songs (aac) are in the wrong format. This is incredibly stupid for Apple if they want people to use their AAC codec because although I think it’s slightly superior, it’s just to big a hassle. They need to convert from AAC to mp3 in the process of writing the disk just as they do for a standard (aif) formatted disk. So this is the best process I have found.
Assuming you already took the time to make a playlist:
1) select your playlist with the mixed aac / mp3 files.
2) make sure your itunes is in list view
3) in the category bar ( Name | Time | Artist | etc… ) right click or go to View — View Options… and add “Kind” from the list of options.
4) click on the Kind heading so it sorts by Kind of file
5) you’ll see all your songs grouped as AAC audio file and MPEG audio file
6) select all the AAC files and right-click and choose “Create MP3 version” which will make copies of all the AAC files but they will not be in any of your playlists, but at least it has all the meta information and gets put in the same folder as the AAC song.
7) click to the main Music item(top of the left bar) and now sort by Date Added (if you don’t have that you will need to add it. See #3)
8) all of the mp3 files that where just created will be together at the top. Select and drag them into your playlist
9) now you have duplicates in your playlist but you can simply delete all the AAC files from your playlist and they will no longer be in the order you originally setup
10) you will still have duplicates of all the songs but you can manage that with Display Duplicates under the File menu.
@ Jack: I just found the ‘Import Settings’ tab under the ‘General’ Tab, next to the ‘when you insert a CD’ drop down menu.
Hey, thanks, this was perfect for what I needed. Just trying to upload MP3 to a website I’m working on, and haven’t done that yet with my Mac. Thanks much!!!
i just want to know, how do i change my music,as of now it shows its downloading and uploading to my cd, but wont play in player.bummer, can you help me ? also im getting a error no.5 on start up.the cd,s says wrong format
I have a iTunes version 10 and somehow when I go to controls on iTunes, I dont see the option for Preference so I am not able to change it to mp3..please help
Album Name:
If In The Album Folder Of The Artists: Should Be Name As Is
If Elsewhere But Not In The Various Artists Folder: Should Be Name As “Artists – Section Name – Name Of The Folder”
Example: “Billy Talent – Live Albums – 666”
If In The Various Artist: Should Be Name “Folder Path #1 – Folder Path #2 – Name Of The Folder”
Example: “Games – Blizzard Entertainment – Warcraft (Orcs & Humans)”
While The Folder Path Would Be “D:\Mp3\Various Artists\Games\Blizzard Entertainment\1994 – Warcraft (Orcs & Humans)”
Add this to the folders:
If More Than One CD, Create Sub-Folder:
\CD#
Yeah it’s some hard work but when you have a database like that of thousand’s of mp3 and you put them in your mp3 player, everything is perfect
Hi
You didn’t talk much about the quality of the MP3… if spaces isn’t a problem 320 kbps should be the way to go because most people just think about putting their CD’s in the computer and convert them to mp3, but at the basic settings 192 kbps, you loose some nice qualities if you have a great sound system or will have in the futur…
Heres some info i’ve put in a blocnote file on how i proceed with my cd’s:
I’m open to comments
[Transfert A Cd To Mp3]
Software: Itunes
Import Custom Settings:
Stereo Bit Rate: 320 Kbps
Sample Rate: 44100 Khz
Channels: Stereo
Stereo Mode: Normal
Smart Encoding Adjustments
Filter Frequencies Below 10 Hz
Information:
LAME Software Has Bin State As The Best To Convert At 192 Kbps, But At 320 Kbps, They Are Equals
[Picture Basic Size]
72 Pixels
Cd:
Front: 12cm X 12cm || 4,724 Inch X 4,724 Inch
Back Without Sides: 5,46 Inch X 4,646 Inch
Back With Sides: 5,96 Inch X 4,646 Inch
Dvd:
12,95cm X 18,3cm || 5,097 Inch X 7,208 Inch
[Picture Name]
Cover – Front
Cover – Back
Cover – Cd
Cover – Back & Sides
Cover – Inlay
Cover – Inside
Cover – Booklet
If More Than One Picture Of The Same Type, Add ” #” To The Name
If More Than One Different Cover, Add ” V#” To The Name
Original Size Bigger Than Basic Size, Add “- Big”
[Folder Structure]
Mp3\Artists\
Albums
Compilations
Demo Albums
Dj Mixes
Duo
Dvd
Extended Plays
Live
Live Albums
Other Albums
Other Dvd
Others
\B-Sides
\Rare
\Various
Remixes
Singles
Split Albums
Tribute Albums
Sub-Folders:
\Various
Mp3\Artists\Various Artists
\Games
\Compilations
\Scores
\Soundtracks
\\Name Of The Grouping
\\\Yyyy – Name
Information:
“A Film Score Is The Background Music Of A Film (Which Is Generally Categorically Separated From Songs Used Within A Film)”
“A Score Is Written Specifically To Accompany A Film, By The Original Film’s Composer(S)”
“A Soundtrack, However, Contains Everything Audible In The Film Including Sound Effects And Dialogue.”
“Soundtrack Albums May Also Include Songs Featured In The Film As Well As Previously Released Music By Other Artists.”
[Folder Name] “Yyyy – Name”
If A Parental Advisory Exist, The Clean Cd Will Be: Yyyy – Name – (Clean Edit)
If The Name Of The Album Has “:” In It, Then It Will Be Replace With ()
Altough The Name Of The Album In The Mp3 Will Remain The Same
Example: “2006 – Dreams: The Ultimate Collection” Becomes 2006 – Dreams (The Ultimate Collection)
[Mp3 Name] “## – Name”
If Compilations “## – Name – [Artist]”
If More Than 99 Songs, Use A 3 Digit Number ###
Within The Name Of The Song:
If Its A Skit, Add ” – (Skit)” To The Name
If Its Live, Add ” – (Live)” To The Name
If Theres Different Parts, Add ” – (Part #)” To The Name
If The Song Has Bin Modified (Ex.: Remix, Mix…), Add ” – (Name Of The Modification)” To The Name Of The Real Song
Ex.: “02 – 3 Am – (Travis Barker Remix).Mp3”
[Mp3 Information:]
Idtag: V2.3
Info Tab:
Artist: Name Of The Artist
Separate By “, ” If Multiple Artists For A Song But This Will Lead To A Compilation
Album Artist: Name Of The Artist Who Made The Album
If Artist And Album Artist Differ In The Album, It’s A Compilation Of Multiple Artist:
1- “Album Artist” Will Be State: “Various Artists”
2- “Sort Artist” In Sorting Tab Will Be Stat: “Various Artists”
3- “Part Of A Compilation” Will Be Check
If Theres Featuring , Meeting, Prententation, Versus Of Any People, It Will Be States In The “Comments” Such:
“Featuring: Eminem”
“Kid Cudi Vs Crookers”
“Chris Van Dutch Meets Floorfil”
“Sound On Line Presents Brass Bros”
Grouping: Will Be The Same As Album Artist Unless Its Various Artist, It Will Use The “Name Of The Grouping” From The Folder Name
Bpm: Should Be Left As Is
Other Information In The Info Tab Is Obvious To Complete
Picture In The Picture Tab Will Be The “Cover – Front” 12x12cm
Other Information Should Be Wipe Out Unless Specific Usage
Lyrics Tab:
Will Contain If Possible The Following Information:
********************* [Songs] *********************
******************** [Lyrics] ********************
*************** [Band Information] ***************
*************** [Other Information] ***************
Otherwise:
******************** [Lyrics] ********************
N/A
I tried the conversion thing- worked only on songs I put into ITunes w/ CDs I own- all the ones I PURCHASED from ITunes says “cannot convert “protected” files…how do i get around this ??? THANKS
I am still having problems trying to get songs in one area and one format. I need a format that allows me to burn cd’s and they can be played back on a little older cd players. I have wasted lots of new CD’s already. Don’t wanna waste any more. I’d like to be able to change formats of songs so i can burn cd’s that will play in my 1998 chevy. Can you help?
Steve
Thanx
How do rip a track with the encode beginning somewhere other than the track’s nominal start, for example where the CD directory incorrectly records a track’s start as including the last 3 seconds of the preceding track?
Question: What do you suggest as the best “balanced” Ripper for Audio Files? By that, I mean, I use WMP for most of what I RIP to play in my vehicle. However, the music levels on each song can be quite different. Sometimes the music is low in volume and other times it knocks your head to the outside of the window. What I would like, is the option to adjust high’s & low’s along with making sure the volume levels stay appreciably the same for every track. I should be who is in charge of what volume a track plays at as I drive down the road; especially if more persons are riding along and we’re discussing something at the same time. Got any recommendations? Feel free to email me direct.
Thanks,
TONY
so if i convert my itunes files into mp3 will it show up on my aftermarket deck in my truck??
Hi, is there a way to change existing tracks on itunes to an MP3 format so that I can burn a disc with mp3 files that will play on the mp3 cd player in my car? Must one buy software from the likes of allmusicconverter or noteburner, and which one is the best?
You need to update this with the new version of Itunes, 9.0 for mac. It is getting harder and harder to get done what you want with all the talk about anti-piracy.
hello dave ,actually u know i have been trying to burn some songs from itunes , but the prob is itunes dont burn some of them songs ,,not even windows media player. i think those files are mpeg4 formate ,,but i convert all my songs to mp3 format in itunes,,can u please ,,please tell me how can i burn those songs ,,any suggestions will be appritiated, thank you.
Dave, I do not have itunes on my windows 64bit computer. I understand it’s needed to copy my CD to an IPOD. What should I download.
Is there a way to burn an itunes file to a CD then upload it on another library with the information not just Track01,track02, etc…