AAC files

[meddyliol]

I have a new ipod classic and a fairly new (one month) macbook. My problem is with aac music files, I was under the impression that ipod's could play these. I converted several music mp3 files to aac with two programmes, Switch and Xilisoft. On trying to import them into itunes ant then to my ipod a message came up along the lines of 'Cannot be played on this ipod'. This is really confusing me. I am using itunes V8.01.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Brian :confused:

[cwtnospam]

Switch (http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html) looks like a Windows port, so I wouldn't trust it.

Why didn't you have iTunes do the conversion?

[meddyliol]

Thanks for your answer. I did attempt to do the conversion in itunes but couldn't figure out how to do it. Any help with this would be really good.

Brian :confused:

[J Christopher]

If the files are already in MP3 format, I would recommend leaving them in that format. It is not generally a good idea to convert audio from one lossy format to another. The sound quality will suffer. Both iTunes and iPods recognize MP3 formats. If you need AAC (which is arguably superior to MP3, then you are much better off converting to that format from the original CD's (or lossless file format).

[EatsWithFingers]

I did attempt to do the conversion in itunes but couldn't figure out how to do it. Any help with this would be really good.

First off, let me echo what J Christopher said above. If the music files are already in a lossy format (i.e. MP3, AAC, ...) then it is not a good idea to re-encode them. You will just make the tracks sound worse (how noticeable it is depends on how good your aural perception is, and the quality of the amp/speakers outputting the sound).

However, if you have the lossless source, then you can get iTunes to do the conversion as follows:


Open iTunes' Preferences and go to the 'General' tab
Click on 'Import Settings...'
Put in the settings you want
Click OK on the 'Import Settings' panel, then again on the main Preferences window
Highlight the tracks in your library that you want to convert
Choose 'Create AAC Version' from the Advanced menu (or 'Create MP3 Version' if you have told iTunes to use that format instead)


Tracks imported from CD will automatically be converted according to the settings you entered in step 3.