How to Configure iTunes to Import in MP3 Format

(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)

iTunes is a widely used media program, but often times users become frustrated that the default encoding for ripping a new CD is Apple's proprietary format. A more widely used format such as MP3 is more convenient. Here is how to configure iTunes to rip in MP3:

Open iTunes and navigate to Edit -> Preferences. On Mac this is under iTunes->Preferences.

rip_itunes_mp3_1

On the General tab, click the "Import Settings" button.

rip_itunes_mp3_2

In the "Import Using" dropdown, select "MP3 Encoder". Now iTunes will rip in MP3! It is recommended that you increase the quality of the import as well, unless you are operating with limited storage space. Any hard drive above about 50GB, however, can easily handle better audio quality for a very large library. To do this, click on the "Setting" dropdown, and choose "Custom...".

rip_itunes_mp3_3

We recommend choosing a Stereo Bit Rate of 256kbps. This strikes a fine balance between quality and the size of the audio files. If you have a large hard drive, feel free to choose the 320kbps option. You do not need to change any other option. Click OK, and you're done!

rip_itunes_mp3_4

Partner Links:

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 23:21

» How to Create Personal Folders in Microsoft Outlook 2010

Personal folders are a good way to store email on a hard drive such that they are not affected by an exchange server's retention policy. Creating a personal folder is Outlook 2010 is easy, but not straight forward. Here's how to do it:First, open Outlook and navigate to the File tab. Click the "Account Settings" button, and choose the "Account Settings..." option the dropdown menu.Navigate to the "Data Files" tab, and click the "Add" button:You will see a prompt to save a new...

» Verilog Operators

Operators in Verilog are the same as operators in programming languages. They take two values and compare or operate on them to yield a new result. Nearly all the operators in Verilog are exactly the same as the ones in the C programming language.Operator TypeOperator SymbolOperation PerformedArithmetic*Multiply/Division+Addition-Subtraction%Modulus+Unary plusiUnary minusRelational>Greater than<Less Than>=Greater than or equal to<=Less than or equal...

» How to Change Screen Resolution on Windows XP

Click Start -> Control Panel.Once in Control Panel, find the icon that is labeled Display and open it.Select the Settings tab. Once in the settings tab, look for the screen resolution setting.After selecting the correct setting, click apply.If your monitor does not support the resolution and the screen is unreadable, wait 30 seconds and Windows will automatically revert the settings for you. If the settings are correct, select OK.

Comments

+1 #1 Patrick DeLine 2010-08-26 11:12

This fix is also useful for converting some DRM audio files to .mp3 format. It's a little time consuming, due to the nature of the fix, but it's relatively straight-forward.

1) Create a disk image containing those files or burn them onto a DVD-RW.
Note: If you create an image, your best bet is to make sure you make a dual-layer DVD image, because otherwise you'll only fit about 20 songs on the image.

2) Mount the image using Daemon Tools (or just pop the CD-RW in).
3) Open iTunes and rip the files.
4) Repeat!

This doesn't work for all content, particularly files where the DRM protection doesn't allow for burning to a disc, but it's a useful and very easy way to convert those pesky files into a format that's more usable. It also eliminates the need to use an unreliable third-party tool to convert the files.

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post

JComments