Convert higher bit-rate songs feature updated!

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by omegaphil6

i dont see what the big deal is? Shouldn't it all already be 256 AAC with iTunes Match?

If iTunes Match matches 100% of my music. Which it doesn't. And if I replaced lossless music with lower quality 256 KBit AAC. Which I don't. And if I want to put 256 KBit AAC onto my iPod. Which I might not want to do. This gives the choice of putting 128 KBit, 192 KBit or 256 KBit onto the iPod.

Originally Posted by hollerz

For that, just make sure you have the desired bit rates etc. in "Import Settings", and select all your music, right click, "Create AAC version".

And realise that it _will_ reduce the quality of all your music permanently.

[omegaphil6]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

If iTunes Match matches 100% of my music. Which it doesn't. And if I replaced lossless music with lower quality 256 KBit AAC. Which I don't. And if I want to put 256 KBit AAC onto my iPod. Which I might not want to do. This gives the choice of putting 128 KBit, 192 KBit or 256 KBit onto the iPod.

ok well the point of this post was that they added 256 KBit... all the other options have always been there so your point is moot.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by omegaphil6

ok well the point of this post was that they added 256 KBit... all the other options have always been there so your point is moot.

Actually if you read the original post, I mentioned in it that users previously only had the option of down converting to 128 kbps and that the latest iTunes/iOS update added the options of 192 and 256 kbps.

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Originally Posted by marcusj0015

Here, see for yourself.

Incase you're wondering, that list also includes 128kb, and 192kb, in addition to the forementioned 256kb.

We know. All three options were mentioned in the original post and that is what everyone was discussing here before you showed up.

[cherrykate]

In fact, if you don't know how to adjust the audio parameters, get a thrid party audio app from cnet, lots of them are free.

[omegaphil6]

Originally Posted by Sol

Actually if you read the original post, I mentioned in it that users previously only had the option of down converting to 128 kbps and that the latest iTunes/iOS update added the options of 192 and 256 kbps.[COLOR="#808080"]

Not sure what version of iTunes you have been using but 192 kbps has always been available.

[Sol]

Originally Posted by cherrykate

In fact, if you don't know how to adjust the audio parameters, get a thrid party audio app from cnet, lots of them are free.

Read the original post. We are talking about two different things. I am not talking about the compression settings that you can change in the Preferences. What we are talking about here is the 'Convert higher bit-rate songs to 128 - 256 kbs' option that appears in the front-most tab when an iOS device is connected to the computer and iTunes. This is an option to non-destructively convert the library on your iOS device without modifying the library on the host computer.

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Originally Posted by omegaphil6

Not sure what version of iTunes you have been using but 192 kbps has always been available.

No it has not. You could compress music to any codec and kbps setting in the Preferences but what we are talking about is the option to compress only the music on the iOS device without modifying the originals in the host computer. Previously this was limited to 128 kbps but since the last iOS and/or iTunes update, we have the additional options of 192 and 256 kbps.

[omegaphil6]

Originally Posted by Sol

No it has not. You could compress music to any codec and kbps setting in the Preferences but what we are talking about is the option to compress only the music on the iOS device without modifying the originals in the host computer. Previously this was limited to 128 kbps but since the last iOS and/or iTunes update, we have the additional options of 192 and 256 kbps.

perhaps we are talking about two different things. But in the preferences, you can change it to convert to AAC and choose 192 kbps. Its always been like that. I know for a fact because ive used it before.

[mchalebk]

Originally Posted by omegaphil6

perhaps we are talking about two different things. But in the preferences, you can change it to convert to AAC and choose 192 kbps. Its always been like that. I know for a fact because ive used it before.

Yes, you are talking about two different things (as he already pointed out). We all know you could always convert or import at the various bitrates. However, there is a feature to downconvert songs when transferring to an iPod so that you can fit more music on the iPod (without downconverting the files in iTunes). It used to only allow you to downconvert to 128K; it now allows other options.

[omegaphil6]

Originally Posted by mchalebk

Yes, you are talking about two different things (as he already pointed out). We all know you could always convert or import at the various bitrates. However, there is a feature to downconvert songs when transferring to an iPod so that you can fit more music on the iPod (without downconverting the files in iTunes). It used to only allow you to downconvert to 128K; it now allows other options.

OOOHHH Crapola, my bad.

[marcusj0015]

Originally Posted by Sol

Actually if you read the original post, I mentioned in it that users previously only had the option of down converting to 128 kbps and that the latest iTunes/iOS update added the options of 192 and 256 kbps.

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We know. All three options were mentioned in the original post and that is what everyone was discussing here before you showed up.

I made a separate thread and it was merged, calm down.

[amsquires83]

Cool, so if this setting is used, can anyone tell me what files it would actually chose to convert?

I am assume that if for example you set the option to 256 kbps, then it would convert any existing files (down to 256 kbps) that exist in iTunes at a higher than 256 kbps rate, and leaves all files at 256 kbps or less untouched. Similarly, if you were to set it to 128 it would convert all files that are above 128 down to 128.

So the lower you set this option the more files it's likely to need to convert...

[Sol]

Originally Posted by amsquires83

Cool, so if this setting is used, can anyone tell me what files it would actually chose to convert?

I am assume that if for example you set the option to 256 kbps, then it would convert any existing files (down to 256 kbps) that exist in iTunes at a higher than 256 kbps rate, and leaves all files at 256 kbps or less untouched. Similarly, if you were to set it to 128 it would convert all files that are above 128 down to 128.

So the lower you set this option the more files it's likely to need to convert...

If you choose Convert higher bit-rate songs to 128 kbps then any file with a kbps rate higher than 128 will be converted on the iOS device that is being synced. Any files that are 128 kbps or lower already will be copied as they are.

[aleclerc]

For some reason, when I select this option is appears as though it actually grows the size of my library. I have about 19GB of music, and when select it takes up approximately 21GB. I haven't actually converted it, but when I select the option iTunes does what I can only assume is some estimation and the space chart down below (blue) grows for my music.

Most of my stuff is mp3 so my only guess is that 256kbps AAC is bigger than 320kbps mp3. Anyone have any idea here?

[Sol]

Originally Posted by aleclerc

For some reason, when I select this option is appears as though it actually grows the size of my library. I have about 19GB of music, and when select it takes up approximately 21GB. I haven't actually converted it, but when I select the option iTunes does what I can only assume is some estimation and the space chart down below (blue) grows for my music.

Most of my stuff is mp3 so my only guess is that 256kbps AAC is bigger than 320kbps mp3. Anyone have any idea here?

No, that can't be it. the kbps setting indicates KiloBits Per Second, so the higher the kbps, the larger the file will be, regardless of the codec used. Maybe it's worth trying to see if the final size will be 21GB as estimated or if the estimate is wrong. It might take an afternoon but if the end result is indeed larger than the original library, you could simply revert by unchecking the "Convert higher bit-rate..." before the next sync (which would also take a couple of hours to copy 21 GB but at least it will not be transcoding).

[Viper2005]

I wish there was a way set do it wouldn't convert my 320k files to 256.. I don't consider 320 high bitrate.. As it is, I have to turn on the feature when I'm copying lossless and then manually turn it off again lest I end up recompressing my 320k mp3s...

[Malbone]

After upgrading to iTunes 10.6 (Mac OS 10.5), I've encountered a problem syncing my songs to my iPhone using the "convert to 128kbps" option. About a quarter of the songs convert to 128kbps, but the conversion doesn't "take" -- iTunes syncs them again and again even though they haven't changed.

I've examined the tracks and they all differ as to original bitrate, ID3 tag level, and LAME version used to convert. Thus far, the only thing I can find that they have in common is that they are all monaural tracks.

None of the tracks were downloaded from iTunes, and as far as I can tell, none of them were transferred from CD.

I have Audacity, which is terrific audio editing software and can convert the tracks to stereo, but I am looking for a utility that will batch-convert the tracks. Any suggestions on this, or on the underlying bug, would be appreciated.

Don

[DaGrandMastah]

Originally Posted by pjkelnhofer

That is odd. There is definitely a software bug at work. I use the "convert from higher bit rate" for both my iPad and my nano. On the iPad, it causes converted songs to lose their artwork every single time. On the nano, I have no artwork problems whatsoever. Hopefully, either iTunes or iOS whichever is causing the problem will be updated soon.

Is this a bug that's completely new to this? I just started converting my library to 320 kb and will then likely downgrade the files to 256 on my iphone to fit more but it's wiping out my artwork for all those files.

Do you guys know if this is something that just started happening or was it happening with the 128 kb conversion also?

Hopefully they fix this soon.

[aleclerc]

Originally Posted by Sol

No, that can't be it. the kbps setting indicates KiloBits Per Second, so the higher the kbps, the larger the file will be, regardless of the codec used. Maybe it's worth trying to see if the final size will be 21GB as estimated or if the estimate is wrong. It might take an afternoon but if the end result is indeed larger than the original library, you could simply revert by unchecking the "Convert higher bit-rate..." before the next sync (which would also take a couple of hours to copy 21 GB but at least it will not be transcoding).

You're right Sol. After actually letting the transcoding happen, it was reduced , although not by much (I think I saved a gig). I guess the estimation it's totally accurate. I thought it would get a little bit more since most of my songs are 320kbps but I guess not! A gig is better than nothing though.

[elgra]

When iTunes offers to "Convert higher bit rate songs to" 128, 192 or 256 kbps AAC, does that rate represent the stereo rate, as displayed under Import Settings?

Under Import Settings, you can choose AAC Encoder with one of the following Settings, two of which reference 128 kbps:

• High Quality (128 kbps) [64 kbps (mono)/128 kbps (stereo)
• iTunes Plus [128 kbps (mono)/256 kbps (stereo)
• Spoken Podcast [32 kbps (mono)/64 kbps (stereo)

[smellalot]

Stereo files will be 128 kbps. I don't know about mono tracks but asume they will convert to 64 kbps.

Originally Posted by elgra

When iTunes offers to "Convert higher bit rate songs to" 128, 192 or 256 kbps AAC, does that rate represent the stereo rate, as displayed under Import Settings?

Under Import Settings, you can choose AAC Encoder with one of the following Settings, two of which reference 128 kbps:

• High Quality (128 kbps) [64 kbps (mono)/128 kbps (stereo)
• iTunes Plus [128 kbps (mono)/256 kbps (stereo)
• Spoken Podcast [32 kbps (mono)/64 kbps (stereo)

[dknightd]

Just reloaded my iphone using 192 conversion. Deleted all songs. re-added some of them. now they have no artwork on iphone - arg!

Anybody know what is going on with this?

[Krauser]

A few questions. I'm thinking of doing the 256kbps conversion on my iPhone 4S to scrape up some more space. I have a 64GB model but I've got a ton of music and would love to have more with me.

That said, will choosing this option only down-convert my higher bit rate tracks to 256 or will it also attempt to UP-convert my lower bit rate tracks as well in an attempt to make the whole library a 256kbps? I only wonder this because up-converting a lower bit rate song should actually do more harm than good with regards to sound quality, no?

Also, when this conversion is done, does it do it through AAC or MP3?

Lastly, if I choose this option and want to revert it at a later time, my original files not on my iPhone won't be affected right? I still want to have my full quality CD rips and lossless files on my MacBook, I just want more streamlined and efficient files on my iPhone.

[Tilpots]

Originally Posted by Krauser

A few questions. I'm thinking of doing the 256kbps conversion on my iPhone 4S to scrape up some more space. I have a 64GB model but I've got a ton of music and would love to have more with me.

That said, will choosing this option only down-convert my higher bit rate tracks to 256 or will it also attempt to UP-convert my lower bit rate tracks as well in an attempt to make the whole library a 256kbps? I only wonder this because up-converting a lower bit rate song should actually do more harm than good with regards to sound quality, no?

Also, when this conversion is done, does it do it through AAC or MP3?

Lastly, if I choose this option and want to revert it at a later time, my original files not on my iPhone won't be affected right? I still want to have my full quality CD rips and lossless files on my MacBook, I just want more streamlined and efficient files on my iPhone.

It will only down covert, not up convert.

AAC

Original files in iTunes remain intact.

[airtas]

any work around for the lost album art?