Why are some tracks ripped from CD in mp3 format and some in mp4?

Is this a standard Audio CD or is it a CD that already contains MP3 & MP4?

iTunes RIPs an audioCD in the format set in iTunes prefs > General - Import button.

It doesn't mx and match.

• A standard audio CD is in .wav format, not mp3 or mp4. The playing (non-label) side of the CD is silver.
• A CD with a playing surface in blue, or blue/green is a not a standard audio CD, and may contain anything, such as some songs in wav, mp3, m4, or even non-music files. A "shop-bought original" does not automatically mean it's a standard audio CD. Shops sell second hand CDs and it's not unknown for those shops to sell home burnt (non standard ) CDs.

dj_nostalgia wrote:

Thanks Chris CA -

That's what I would have expected, but has not been my experience...!

The CD's in question are shop-bought originals. Checking them again, it seems to happen with 'compilation' albums, rather than single artist albums. Could it be that the tracks have been 'compiled' on the CD from both mp3 & m4a 'originals'?

Should iTunes 'over-rule' the original & rip the tracks in whichever format is selected in the 'Import' settings you mention above? If so, it doesn't appear to be doing this.

If the CD is an audioCD, they aren't MP3 or m4a. They are simply PCM audio.

Import is different than RIP.

Import will add the files to iTunes in the format they are in. Nothing is converted.

RIP is done to an audioCD and it will be converted to whatever is set in iTunes prefs > General - Import settings.

the fiend wrote:

A standard audio CD is in .wav format,

To be correct, it is PCM.

WAV is how Windows displays them (but they are not WAV on the CD). AIFF is the equivalent on Macs.

WAV (and AIFF) is simply a container that stores the PCM from the CD.

I didn't think it would be helpful to be too technical.

Okay, but to say they are WAV is incorrect. Someone with a Mac would get confused & will tell you they are AIFF.

No need to confuse the issue further.

dj_nostalgia wrote:

So, just to clarify, if I select 'MP3 Encoder' in iTunes 'Import settings' this will 'rip' the music from a CD in a compressed format at whatever bitrate I set, but if I select 'AIFF Encoder' (for Mac's) or 'WAV Encoder' (for Windows) this will effectively just 'copy' the music, in an uncompressed format, to wherever I set it to be saved?

If it is a standard audioCD, then yes.

FYI:
You can use either WAV or AIFF in Windows or Mac OS.

WAV files do not have tags for any info so the only metadata that stays with the file is the track name 9since it is the filename).

Everything else (Album, Artist, track #, Artwork, etc.) resides only in the iTunes library file.

"Import is different than RIP.

Import will add the files to iTunes in the format they are in. Nothing is converted.

RIP is done to an audioCD and it will be converted to whatever is set in iTunes prefs > General - Import settings."

I see what you're saying, but others may be confused as iTunes does use "Import" for the function you describe as "rip" (the latter being a colloquialism for any process that extracts the PCM stream from an audio CD and makes it available to computers as one or more files). Using iTunes' own terminology:

• Music can be imported from audio CDs, using the settings of the target file format and encoding method/bit rate as set in Edit > Preferences > General > Import settings. The import process will format & encode the audio data extracted from the CD based on these settings.
• Music can be added to iTunes from existing media files, in a variety for formats both lossless (wav, aiff, alac) and lossy (mp3, aac). Music can be added using several functions:
  • drag and drop files/folders from Windows Explorer to iTunes
  • iTunes' File > Add File to Library... and File > Add Folder to Library... operations
  • copy files/folders to the Automatically Add to iTunes folder within the iTunes library folder structure
• When music is added to iTunes the format and encoding method/bit rate is unchanged from the original media files which - depending on the way in which they are added and configuration settings under Edit > Preferences > Advanced - are either copied into the iTunes library folders or are left in their original location.
• The one exception to the rules for addition of files applies to Windows Media Player (WMP) files. iTunes does not support WMP; however, on Windows systems that have the WMP codec installed and enabled iTunes will allow WMP files to be added to its library but will convert them to a supported format, using the same settings as used for CD import.

hhgttg27 wrote:

"Import is different than RIP.

Import will add the files to iTunes in the format they are in. Nothing is converted.

RIP is done to an audioCD and it will be converted to whatever is set in iTunes prefs > General - Import settings."

I see what you're saying, but others may be confused as iTunes does use "Import" for the function you describe as "rip" (the latter being a colloquialism for any process that extracts the PCM stream from an audio CD and makes it available to computers as one or more files). Using iTunes' own terminology:

Yes, Apple makes it kinda confusing in iTunes.