Itunes: Burning MP3's question

[Pass2Yao]

Hey everybody. I have a quick question regarding burning mp3's (rather than wavs). I've found that it's unbelievably easy to do so through itunes, but I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how to burn mp3's onto seperate folders for CD play. The reason is that I have an MP3 capable head unit in my car, and I'd love to be able to browse through folders to look for my mp3's. As is, I'm having to browse through 70 songs or so just to find the one I want. But if I were able to put different artists in different folders, it'd be soooo much easier. If anybody can help, it'd be appreciated.

on another note, i just got my pb 12" today, and I can't keep my hands off her. Help!!!

 

[jxyama]

can't you just burn folders with mp3s in them via Finder?

not sure, but that's what i was going to try after finding out that iTunes burnt mp3 CD simply lists all songs in order.

 

[Pass2Yao]

sorry, probably a dumb question....but...would you be able to burn all those seperate folders onto one CD?

 

[Abstract]

Yeah, just place a blank CD into your Mac. Your blank CD should show up in Finder (on the left side).

From here, just drag and drop the music folders you wish to burn into the picture of the CD, and the files will be moved to the blank CD. Next, click on the BURN button on the top-right side of Finder, I believe.

So really, its as simple as placing a blank CD into your Mac and dragging and dropping the songs and/or folders you want into the blank CD.

 

[rueyeet]

Funny, I burned an MP3 CD for a friend of one artist with various albums, and when it was done the CD was organized in folders. Maybe you have to have the "let iTunes organize your music" option checked in Preferences?

 

[Pass2Yao]

Hmm...I burned all my mp3 tracks, but it doesn't work very well in my head unit...and my pc at work can't read the CD at all. On my head unit in my car it skips folders and only plays about 15 of a total of 80 songs. The weirdest part is that a few CD's I ripped to my hdd, don't even show up on my head unit.

Maybe I burned it wrong? I don't see how...seems pretty easy. Drag and dropped folders from itunes of different musicians onto the blank cd icon, then burned it. Any ideas anyone? Thanks!

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

I'm not sure if this would help but have you tried burning a data CD or MP3 CD in iTunes? Apparently some players require data CD while others require MP3 CDs. Check it out inthe the "burning" panel of the iTunes prefrences.

Hope that helps.

 

[Pass2Yao]

Thanks Chris...I'll go and try that out right now...I"ll let you know in thirty minutes or so if changing the settings to data cd will help.

ciao.

 

[Pass2Yao]

I think I determined the problem. I noticed that all the Cd's I imported were converted not to MP3's but using the AAC encoder.

Now my question is: How do I convert the music files in itunes to MP3's...or do I have to re-import them with the MP3 encoder option enabled?

Any help is appreciated...thanks everyone.

 

[jrv3034]

I think I determined the problem. I noticed that all the Cd's I imported were converted not to MP3's but using the AAC encoder.

Now my question is: How do I convert the music files in itunes to MP3's...or do I have to re-import them with the MP3 encoder option enabled?

Any help is appreciated...thanks everyone.

I would also like to know if this is possible. I have all my music in iTunes as AAC, but I want to burn MP3 CDs to play on a portable MP3 CD player. Is this possible?

 

[jxyama]

set the "import" option to mp3 and specify the bitrate in iTunes preferences. now, right click (or contrl click) on any AAC song(s) you want to convert to mp3. you will get an option as "Convert the selection to mp3"

mind you the resulting mp3 may not sound as good as freshly ripped mp3, because by going from AAC to mp3, you are using lossy codec twice.

 

[jrv3034]

Thanks, jxyama. Good point about the lossy conversion. Hmm... Well, as long as it plays right it's all good.

EDIT: Another question... Will this work on Protected AAC files (purchased from iTunes)?

 

[rueyeet]

Thanks, jxyama. Good point about the lossy conversion. Hmm... Well, as long as it plays right it's all good.

EDIT: Another question... Will this work on Protected AAC files (purchased from iTunes)?

Nope...iTunes will not allow you to convert protected AAC. Pretty much the workaround is to burn audio CDs and re-rip them as MP3.

Personally, I rip all my CDs as 192 kbps MP3, simply for portability. And I'll continue to do it that way until every device and its mother-in-law supports AAC. For iTunes purchased stuff, I'm still sort of stuck with either an audio CD or iTunes/iPod.

 

[vraxtus]

The answer to all your burning questions! =D

OK I'm doing this mostly from memory, so bear with me.

To convert from non-protected AAC, go to iTunes prefs, then select your MP3 encoder. Find your song(s), control click it/them, and select "Convert to MP3."

As for burning an MP3 CD, there is an option for this I believe in iTunes. Unfortunately using a disk image (from, say, Disk Utility) to burn does the have problem of PC incompatibility... I've seen this happen on several occasions, so I'd stay clear of it.


Anything else I can answer?

 

[Pass2Yao]

Thank you to everyone who lent a suggestion. It's wonderful to feel a part of this community...I just hope I can do the same for one of you later.

Vraxtus, thanks for your help...and since you asked, I do have another question. Does anyone know how to erase the songs from a CD-RW? I'd like to make use of the RW capabilities...but first need to erase what's on there. I know, it's a dumb question, but entertain me please.

 

[Veldek]

Does anyone know how to erase the songs from a CD-RW? I'd like to make use of the RW capabilities...but first need to erase what's on there. I know, it's a dumb question, but entertain me please.

I think you can do this with Disk Utility (found in Applications/Utilities).

 

[Pass2Yao]

Thanks everyone...I figured everything out...thanks to your suggestions.