In an effort to save space on my my Mac, I noticed my music library of only 3600 songs was consuming 72 GB of space. I thought this was odd since my iPhone 6 (64 GB) contains all the same songs. I checked my iPhone 6 and those same 3600 songs consume less than 15 GB. Anyone have an idea why this occurs and how I can decrease the size of my iTunes library without removing any songs?
iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10)
Larry,
Put your music library in Songs view, and sort by "Size." Look at some of the biggest files. Notice anything?
First, I realized why the same number of songs are only 10 GB on my iPhone...I have it set to convert the higher bitrates to 128 kbps, so that mystery is solved. But regarding the iTunes library itself, I don't notice anything in particular doing what you suggested. The songs range from 3MB to 85MB but they obviously correlate precisely with the longest songs being the largest and the smallest ones being the shortest. I'm not going to delete longer songs. Maybe there's just no way to reduce the library size. I've already removed dupes, but I'll probably just need to delete the CDs that I rarely, if ever, listen to from iTunes since I have them on CDs anyway. My iTunes library is probably 5% purchased from the iTunes store and the rest my CDs, so leaving in iTunes the purchased music and the albums I really like may be the solution.
The songs range from 3MB to 85MB but they obviously correlate precisely with the longest songs being the largest and the smallest ones being the shortest.
Larry,
What format is that 85 MB jobbie in? In the usual formats of AAC/256 or MP3/256, that would be over 40 minutes long!
If you have songs in bulky formats (e.g. WAV or AIFF) consider making versions in AAC/256 or MP3/256 to replace them. The conversion can be done with iTunes, per this guide:
iTunes: How to convert a song to a different file format
The 85MB song is only 8+ minutes long and in AIFF format. I already had the article referenced on how to convert songs to a different format, but we're talking a HUGE amount of work so didn't want to even consider it. Just a quick look shows about 2000+ songs are in AIFF format.
Larry McJunkin wrote:
The 85MB song is only 8+ minutes long and in AIFF format. I already had the article referenced on how to convert songs to a different format, but we're talking a HUGE amount of work so didn't want to even consider it. Just a quick look shows about 2000+ songs are in AIFF format.
Larry,
OK, entirely up to you of course, but your original question was "how I can decrease the size of my iTunes library without removing any songs?" The answer is to take the biggest AIFFs and convert them to AAC/256 or MP3/256.
It is really not a lot of work. Highlight a batch of files, right-click, "Create MP3 Version," and let it roll.
Thanks, Ed...I'll give it a try later. Too busy now trying to downsize this new 27" iMac to fit a new rMBP (reason for the necessary space-saving). I'm guessing this will create two files (the original .AIFF and the new smaller one. Then I'll have to remove the dupes. I know how to remove dupes, but that introduces yet another problem in that I don't want to display dupes as it will show many dupes I "want" to keep (I don't like disrupting the songs in various albums by the same artist). So I need to sit down and plan this, but thanks for your help!
Well, this doesn't seem to be working. Right-clicking on any of them and converting to AAC gives me this - http://take.ms/UKlfV. The only option is "Convert to AAC" for any I've tried so far.
Apparently, reading the article, I'm going to have to import "ALL" my CDs again and import using ACC format :-( Now we truly are talking a lot of work, unless you know a workaround?
Larry McJunkin wrote:
Apparently, reading the article, I'm going to have to import "ALL" my CDs again and import using ACC format :-( Now we truly are talking a lot of work, unless you know a workaround?
Not true. Just convert the AIFFs to AAC (or MP3). Since the rip to AIFF was lossless, the results from the conversion will be just as a good as a brand new rip to AAC.
I'm guessing this will create two files (the original .AIFF and the new smaller one.
Yes, the conversion creates a new file in the indicated format, and leaves the original in place.
Put a small batch of AIFFs into a playlist. Highlight all and convert them. When you are done and are satisfied with the results, delete all the songs in the playlist. No need to look at dupes.
If I select a large .AIFF file song, right-click, this is what I get - http://take.ms/cHaXO - and there is no option to do what you're saying. If I select "Create AAC Version" I get this - http://take.ms/UKlfV
Larry, Will the file play? If not, re-add it to iTunes.
Yes, all of them I've tried play just fine, and they're songs from CDs I've imported over the years. But when I try to create an ACC version, iTunes can't find the file. Using Yosemite and iTunes 12.
This is getting stranger by the minute. Any song I have will play just fine, but just an experiment I tried making sure I could play all the songs on one Album. Then I deleted that album and moved all the songs to Trash. I then tried to import the CD again and got the same error message as when I tried to convert the song from the right-click menu - http://take.ms/UKlfV
Then I tried changing the import parameters to "Apple Lossless" and when I tried to import the CD, the same thing happens. Essentially, I can't convert any song from AIFF to ACC or Apple Lossless, nor can I import any CD at all. I'm starting to get worried.
Being a retired geek, you'd think I would have known to try rebooting before saying it wouldn't work. Rebooting fixed the import problem and also the conversion issue. I'm now experimenting with various formats and it appears that "Apple Lossless" saves approximately half the space (it's cutting most file sizes in half) and it's touted to be much better quality than AAC. Do you agree?
How to Save Disk Space in iTunes
