Downloading Music Files

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Level 1

4 points

Downloading Music Files

Hi everyone! I recently purchased and downloaded music directly off an artist's website, hoping that I would be able to play it in the music app. I have since discovered that I have to transfer these over on a computer. I do not have enough iCloud storage to have this backed up on the cloud, nor can I afford to, so I figured I'd just download the files directly to my computer the same way I did on my phone, since my purchase came with 3 downloads of the album. However, once downloaded to my computer, the files are showing as MPEG Layer 3 Audio files, whereas on my phone they are MP3 files. I thought these were the same at first, as I am not very technologically adept, but am beginning to reconsider that now, since I keep getting an error message that my phone cannot open files of this type. Any help either converting the files into an openable format or accessing the files that I have downloaded in the files app on my phone would be greatly appreciated! I'm also more than willing to explain more about what is happening if necessary.

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 13

Posted on Apr 23, 2024 9:16 PM

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Answer 1

the fiend

Level 7

22,536 points

Apr 24, 2024 1:16 AM in response to mariejenna4

MP3 files are MPEG Level 3, but how do you know that they are showing on the phone as MP3? As far as I know, the phone itself does not display the file type and if you look at the phone using iTunes, the kind field states MPEG audio file, not MP3.

The first thing to do is tap that + 31 total problems message to ensure that the failed songs are the ones you think they are*. (The list will show the titles, but not the file information.) Then check one or two of the songs in your iTunes library using the screenshot below as your guide, to find out what the Bit Rate (4.) and Sample Rate (4.) of the songs are. Either right-click a song and choose Song Info from the pop-up menu or select the track and use Edit/Song Info on iTunes' top bar menu. That opens the Details tab for the track. Switch to the File tab:

shows the file's format as kind (in this case MPEG audio file, the same thing I see when looking at a track on the device, but from iTunes)
effectively shows the same thing (format), but as MPEG-1, Layer 3
shows the file extension, which in this case is MP3
shows the Bit Rate and the Sample Rate, the two things we're interested in at the moment. What are these two figures?

mariejenna4 wrote:

... I figured I'd just download the files directly to my computer the same way I did on my phone, since my purchase came with 3 downloads of the album.

How did you put the music onto your phone, was it through a Sync with iTunes or dragging the songs from iTunes to the phone? Or did you download the directly to the phone from the artist's website or some other means?

* Also, when you say 3 downloads, do you mean that the album downloaded three copies of the album? If so, then presumably they are in three different formats. Perhaps the troublesome copy is simply one that cannot be payed on the iPod. Check your Library to see whether you have more than one copy of the album. If you do, then check the Bit Rate and Sample Rate of each of the albums; are they different?

For reference, here's a screenshot of a track I added to iTunes several years ago, in Apple's AAC format:

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