Itunes mp4 mp3 and aac grief

[PeckhamPouncer]

Hi all..

I recently decided to jump into the world of downloading music..mainly because I cant get the type of stuff I like on CD's over here..

I created my wish list of old Ska classics..paid for and downloaded 31 tracks..

They play fine..using Itunes player and quick time..I initally had problems trying to play them on win media player as it didnt recognise the file even thugh i had tweaked the preferences to accept them..but then i resolved that problem..although the sound is nowhere near as good as i tunes and quick time..

Now I want to play them on CD in the car...now the problems start!

Firstly..buring them onto CD...media player woiuld not do it...Nero Struggled but eveually did it..when it came to playing them back on the CD via the computer...nothing!

Then I tried playing them in the car..it recognised i had 16 tracks..mostly 2-3 minutes long..but it only played the first three..

I was told to import them back on Itunes and convert them to MP3...1.50 later and six tracks converted I gave up..surely this isnt normal????

I checked the original downloads and they are all around on average 6-8 mb...surely thats a hell of a lot all things considered?

So..the questions..

Have I done anything wrong?

What are Mpeg4 files..and are the the same as aac file..which I thought Itunes use

Is there a way of downloading the tracks as Mp3 direct form Itunes?

Do the file sizes sound ridiculously large? (in comparison I have just saved downloaded and converted a track from utube onto mp3 and that was only 2 meg..and the song was 3.5 minutes long

All suggestions very greatfully recieved

Thank you..

 

[spl23]

If they play ok in iTunes, then just create a playlist from them in iTunes, right-click the playlist, choose "burn playlist to disc".

 

[PeckhamPouncer]

Thanks SPL...but they will still be aac files wont they?

 

[spl23]

Thanks SPL...but they will still be aac files wont they?

No, "burn playlist to disc" produces a standard audio CD.

That said, if your car player can cope with MP3s, just download a copy of dbPowerAmp music converter and the relevant codec plugin for AAC, and that will convert AAC to MP3 with one click.

 

[PeckhamPouncer]

Thanks Ill give that a whirl...its a shame Itunes dont tell you its going to be this much hassle!

I still cant figure out why they dont use stand mp3 format though..

 

[iamthebrad]

What's the problem with just using the "convert to MP3" option? I know it's an annoying extra step to take, but I don't see how it's so bad that you gave up after converting only six tracks...

 

[spl23]

I still cant figure out why they dont use stand mp3 format though..

Because MP3 doesn't support digital rights management (DRM) - when the iTunes Store launched, all the music it sold was copy-protected so it couldn't be transferred to other people. You couldn't do this with MP3 - you could with AAC.

Now Apple have removed the DRM, the reason they stick with AAC is that it sounds better than MP3 at the same bit rates.

 

[Korum]

No, "burn playlist to disc" produces a standard audio CD.

That said, if your car player can cope with MP3s, just download a copy of dbPowerAmp music converter and the relevant codec plugin for AAC, and that will convert AAC to MP3 with one click.

Not exactly true, it'll create an audio CD but with a maximum bitrate of the selected AAC's on the playlist so if you rip it back into itunes it will not produce a higher quality MP3 than the original AAC'S bitrate.

Because MP3 doesn't support digital rights management (DRM) - when the iTunes Store launched, all the music it sold was copy-protected so it couldn't be transferred to other people. You couldn't do this with MP3 - you could with AAC.

Now Apple have removed the DRM, the reason they stick with AAC is that it sounds better than MP3 at the same bit rates.

They may have removed DRM but their AAC Plus music still won't play on the xbox 360 much to my disgust after forking out over £40 to upgrade my protected AAC's into Purchased AAC's. I really am beginning to dislike Apple for their insistence on using only AAC.

 

[iamthebrad]

Can't you just use the "convert to MP3" option?

 

[PeckhamPouncer]

Hi all..thanks for the interest here...'iamthebrad'...cheers for the comment...but it took an hour and a hlaf to convert 6 tracks..the first few were ok then the 6th track took best part of 3/4 of an hour and it still wasnt converted..hence me giving up.

I havnt founf the 'convert to mp3' option on the site...is there another way of doing it aside from exporting onto CD then importing back in?

Thanks everyone...

 

[spl23]

I havnt founf the 'convert to mp3' option on the site...is there another way of doing it aside from exporting onto CD then importing back in?

dbPowerAmp - dBpoweramp Music Converter

It's free - install the main application, and the AAC codec from dBpoweramp Codec Central m4a, mp4 & aac

With it installed, right-click on the files in Explorer, choose "Convert to...", select MP3 in the dialog that comes up.