Converting AIFF to MP3

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Niku Author

Level 2

410 points

Converting AIFF to MP3

How can I use iTunes to convert AIFF song files to MP3 files?

MacBook 2 GHz Intel Core 2 DVD, Memory: 1 GB 667, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Aug 25, 2007 3:25 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Niku Author

Level 2

410 points

Aug 26, 2007 7:40 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

I read your other post. You should be able to go into your iTunes preferences under Advanced, Importing and make sure the selection there is what you want to convert to. Then highlight the file in your library and select the convert to from the Advanced menu. This should create a second file in the chosen format.

If that's not working, I have no idea why. And...I'm not sure what converting an AIFF to MP3 will do to the sound quality of the song.
Diane Wordsmith
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I agree that I should be able to convert the song by highlighting it and clicking on "Converting to MP3," but I can NO LONGER do this. I just tried calling Apple, but they're closed for the day, so I'll have to try tomorrow. In the meantime, I just noticed another mystery: I have lost songs from my iTunes library. They're just not there anymore, and I can't even finding them by using SPOTLIGHT. As to the sound quality repercussions of converting AIFF to MP3, all I can say is that I'm happy with the results. I've cut a 25-minute recitation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam by Marvin Miller to 1.8 MB, and it sounds just fine to me, except for the clicks, which are there only because I didn't clean the LP sufficiently before making the recording. One of these days before I lose or break the 40-year record, I'm going to make the recording over again after cleaning it properly.

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Answer 2

Aug 25, 2007 3:35 PM in response to Niku

I read your other post. You should be able to go into your iTunes preferences under Advanced, Importing and make sure the selection there is what you want to convert to. Then highlight the file in your library and select the convert to from the Advanced menu. This should create a second file in the chosen format.

If that's not working, I have no idea why. And...I'm not sure what converting an AIFF to MP3 will do to the sound quality of the song.

Diane Wordsmith

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Answer 3

Niku Author

Level 2

410 points

Aug 28, 2007 8:22 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Diane Wordsmith wrote:
Niku,

Care to share what fixed the problem? It could help someone else in the forum.
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I did this on another chain (Is that what you call it?) Anyway, to make it simpler, here's what I said: "(1) I called Apple. To say that their technician helped me would be understating what he did. Let's just say that he fixed it, and I was the instrument he used to do it. Anyway, here's what he had me do. (A) iTunes>Library>View>Show Duplicates http://This proved to me that the conversions had actually been made. It also showed songs that I thought had been lost.

(2) He had me repair the disc. I forgot to write down all of the steps, but I do remember Repair>Disk Permissions. That did the trick. In other words, the problem was fixed by using Disk Repair. Now, all that remains is for me to learn how to access and use Disk Repair in the future.
(3) Here's my last argument about file size versus playing time and why I contend that file size alone doesn't determine the playing time. Consider a three minute song in AIFF format from which I make four MP3 format songs as follows: 4 MB, 2 MB, 1 MB, and 700 KB. Now, all are in the MP3 format, and all of them play for three minutes, but there are four different sized files. I can't make my case any clearer than that."

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Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Aug 28, 2007 8:54 PM in response to Niku

*As to the sound quality repercussions of converting AIFF to MP3, all I can say is that I'm happy with the results. I've cut a 25-minute recitation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam by Marvin Miller to 1.8 MB, and it sounds just fine to me*
You didn't mention they were spoken word files. In fact, you did write, "I just noticed that there are maybe _ten songs_ of around 8 MB each".

Also had you mentioned you RIP'd these off an album the other thread would have stayed on track.

Setting the bitrate to 32 kbps works just fine for this and is what is usually recommended when converting/importing spoken word.
Works out to ~10MB per hour instead of 1MB per minute for 128 kbps.

How did you get them from LP to computer?
What hardware & sofware?

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Answer 5

Niku Author

Level 2

410 points

Aug 28, 2007 9:29 PM in response to Chris CA

Chris CA wrote:
*As to the sound quality repercussions of converting AIFF to MP3, all I can say is that I'm happy with the results. I've cut a 25-minute recitation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam by Marvin Miller to 1.8 MB, and it sounds just fine to me*
You didn't mention they were spoken word files. In fact, you did write, "I just noticed that there are maybe _ten songs_ of around 8 MB each".

Also had you mentioned you RIP'd these off an album the other thread would have stayed on track.

Setting the bitrate to 32 kbps works just fine for this and is what is usually recommended when converting/importing spoken word.
Works out to ~10MB per hour instead of 1MB per minute for 128 kbps.

How did you get them from LP to computer?
What hardware & sofware?

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Okay, this is my final, final word. I just connected the headphone jack on a cheap turntable, radio, cassette/CD player to my computer with a cable. I think you can take it from there. I might add that I've also made recordings from my video player by doing the same thing. For historical interest, when I was using an iMac and before I had iTunes, I did the same thing, except that I recorded the music into my computer by using that old, old Apple program called SimpleSound. So, I've now made recordings from LPs,videos, and cassettes into my iMac and into my MacBook. I've also used two different, cheap turntable/radio/cassette/CD players. How they can make those things so cheaply is amazing. I've even seen them advertised for less than $80 , although both of mine cost between $100 and $150.
Oh, most of them are song recordings. I only have a few spoken word recordings.I couldn't find all of my recordings before, but now that I've fixed things, all of my recordings are again in one list--I think.

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Answer 6

Niku Author

Level 2

410 points

Aug 28, 2007 3:57 PM in response to Niku

I called Apple. They solved this problem and more. This case is closed.

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Answer 7

Aug 28, 2007 5:53 PM in response to Niku

Niku,

Care to share what fixed the problem? It could help someone else in the forum.

Diane Wordsmith

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