How to convert CD/ MP4 audio files to MP3 using iTunes 8

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As an update to this post, here’s how you convert your audio files to MP3 format using iTunes version 8 (hat-tip to Fiona for sharing the info!):

For a PC, it’s:

  • Preferences> General> Import Settings.
  • Choose “MP3” (or your desired format)
  • Then go to your song, right-click and choose “Create MP3 Version” (if you’ve specified MP3 in the earlier step).

For Macs, it’s:

  • Preferences> General> Import Settings
  • Select “Import using MP3 encoder” (or your desired format)
  • Then go to your song, right-click and choose “Create MP3 Version” (if you’ve specified MP3 in the earlier step).

If you’re using iTunes version 7, check out this earlier post.

Cheers!

29 thoughts on “How to convert CD/ MP4 audio files to MP3 using iTunes 8”

  1. Pingback: How to convert MP4 audio files to MP3 using iTunes version 7 « My Right Brain

  5. For DRM songs, burn your protected songs to CD, then reimport them.
    THEN, you can go ahead and convert to MP3.. for some reason, burning to a CD strips the DRM.

  8. Can anyone tell me why some of my songs from CDs became MP3 but others became MP4 format in iTunes? When I burned an MP3 CD, some songs are MP3 and some MP4…the player only playes the 24 MP3 songs.

  9. The information has been a great help, but after #9, I do not obtain another file, and the original still shows AAC audio file. I’ve checked and settings are as your instructions … can someone help?

    • >>>
      Macs dont have a right click!
      >>>
      That’s true! Though I think Mac users won’t take it literally, and will know that it’s the menu option… thingy… for me, I do a two-finger tap to get the menu options 🙂

  13. This help me a lot cuz i was sufferin tryin to download some songs from the internet dat i couldnt found but now dat i know how to convert them i dont have to suffer again

  14. this helped! thank you. i have another problem with the sansa shaker- if i delete a song from the queue, it still stays on the mp3 (although it no longer shows up in the window)

    any suggestions?

  15. Thanks for the info. I have the same problem as outlined by Pat A above. It seems to convert the files (MPEG4 podcasts in my case) to MP3, but when it finishes there is no second file with a different format. It basically has not changed. Any ideas? Does it store the converted files elsewhere? Thanks! Marty

    • Hi Pat and Marty, I’ve tried using iTunes 8 and you should see the new converted file in iTunes. It appears below the original file. So I’m not sure why you’re not seeing it. Try a search for the file name in your computer. The converted file should have the same file name as the original, just that the extension will now be MP3.

    • I found my itunes library with the trail below and after this conversion the second file was there too in the MP3 format! Good luck.

      c
      documents and settings
      user
      my documents
      my music
      itunes
      itunes music

  16. This worked great! Thanks so much .. only exception is that the right click convert to mp3 wasn’t an option – but going back to the advanced drop down, the option shows up after editing the import settings. Thanks!

  17. Thank you SO much for this post:
    How to convert CD/ MP4 audio files to MP3 using iTunes 8
    you and Fiona are geniuses and I really appreciated this helpful info!!

  19. Followed the instructions. Seemed to work. but didn’t. I was watching the folder the m4a file existed in. Saw briefly the mp3 being created then it disappeared.

  20. Just wondering, can I specify the quality to whatever I want? Like will making it 320kbps actually lower the quality if it can’t go that high? Or does that actually not matter. I’m not sure if I’m making sense, but hopefully there’s an answer. Thanks.

    • @holara – as far as I know, you can set the playback quality you want but it all depends on the source. Also, it makes sense to convert from an uncompressed format (e.g. WAV, AIFF) to the quality you want, but if you convert from say, a 128kbps MP3 (which is already compressed) to 320kbps, then the quality would be limited to what the 128kbps can provide.

  21. iTunes 8. I followed the instruction above.
    Step 1.
    Preference/General/Import Settings/Import using mp3 encoder.
    Step 2.
    Select the mp4 file/Menu:Advanced/Create mp3 Version (is gray-out, cannot select)

    Anyone any idea? Thanks.

  22. I am trying to convert an mp4 created in i-Movie and I think it thinks it is proprietary or has some kind of DMR from i-Movie. Any one know what the issue might be?

    • Hello Fred, I believe an MP4 created from iMovie is a video file. You can’t convert video to audio using iTunes. If you are referring to an MP4 audio file, then the above steps should work. As for extracting the audio from video, that’s a different topic, with several possible ways to do it depending on freeware or paid software — it’s not really something I know at the back of my hand so I won’t attempt to even try to explain here. Hope this helps.

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