Converting Apple Lossless to AAC or MP3 on the fly

[hatliff]

Does anyone know of any software that will convert Apple Lossless tracks to AAC or MP3 on the fly as it copies them to the iPod?

I have all my CDs ripped in Lossless but I want them in a smaller lossy format on the iPod. So far I have converted them in batches with iTunes, transferred the AAC tracks and then deleted the AAC versions on the PC, but I'm hoping there's something available that will let me do this in a single step...

[kornchild2002]

iTunes won't be able to do this and I am unaware of any software that will. If you have a iPod shuffle then iTunes will be able to batch convert the lossless files on the fly but that is the only iPod that I know iTunes will do this for.

Other than owning a iPod shuffle, it looks like you are doing the correct procedure. If you really want to make things easier, I would have two different iTunes libaries (if you have enough room on your hard drive or purchase a spare 40GB hard drive for $30). You can then convert all your lossless files to the mp3 or AAC file formats and store them in another library.

[head_unit]

I have everything is Lossless, but for some testing with a nano I might want to make smaller versions. But how does one do that?

[kornchild2002]

Yes, use smaller files on your nano unless you like carrying around 250 songs with a 8 hour battery life.

You have to change the CD ripping settings in iTunes to the encoder and bitrate of your choice. If you are using the stock Apple earbuds then 128kbps AAC will be fine as those earbuds don't have the capacity to expose the anomolies of the 128kbps mpeg-4 AAC setting. Once you change your CD Importing setting, then go back to your library. Select all the songs you want to be transcoded, right-click on one of them, then left-click on "Convert selection to..." It will either say "Convert selection to AAC" or "Convert selection to mp3" depending on which lossy codec you chose. iTunes will duplicate the songs though so keep track of which ones are your lossy files and which ones are your lossless files.

[head_unit]

Thanks for the info; I will pass to my coworker also.

I'm imagining after I "convert" I will see 2 of everything in the library? And that in the iTunes music folder inside each artist/album sub-sub-folder there would be 2 of each song? Which I could pull out into another library (sounds tedious)?

What I would want is to end up with a lossless "library" and a compressed "library." I say "library" because my mental image of what I'd like to end up with are folders "iTunes lossless" and "iTunes compressed" which I would swap into the actual "iTunes Music" folder depending what I wanted to dump to which iPod. This wouldn't happen often; just the occasional times I'm testing with a 2GB nano.

Or am I overengineering things?

[kornchild2002]

For all the questions asked in the first paragraph, yes. You will see two songs in your library and there will be duplicate songs in your iTunes music folder. It is a little tedious in the beginning but well worth the effort.

You can have two libraries. One for all your lossless files and one for all your lossy files. You are not over engineering. Everything you said is correct.

[underground]

You might want to check this script (http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=losslessaccworkflow) for iTunes from Doug's AppleScripts (http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/index.php) for iTunes. I haven't used it myself yet, but it appears to do what you want. This may only work for Mac users. I'm not sure whether or not this script can be used with the Windows SDK iTunes COM (http://developer.apple.com/sdk/itunescomsdk.html) for running jscripts. Anyways, heres the description direct from the site.

Lossless to AAC Workflow v1.3

written by Doug Adams
update posted: Apr 25, 2005
latest version downloads: 662 | total downloads: 1524
category: Managing Files

Three scripts assist with importing/managing Apple Lossless audio files and sending converted AAC copies to iPod.

Lossless to AAC Workflow (CD->iPod):

• Imports each enabled CD track as an Apple Lossless file
• Makes a converted AAC copy of each imported Lossless file
• Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.

Lossless to AAC Workflow (iTunes->iPod):

• Makes a converted AAC copy of each Lossless track selected in iTunes
• Adds the AAC file to iPod, deleting the original AAC from iTunes.

Sync Tags of iPod AACs with iTunes Lossless:

• Will sync your choice of Rating, Play Count, and/or Last Played Date between iPod AAC tracks and iTunes Lossless tracks (or visa versa).

In this way you can keep archived Lossless files on your hard drive, and manageable AAC files on your iPod. Read Me explains all options.
• Latest version adds "Sync Tags of iPod AACs with iTunes Lossless" script.
• Version 1.2 fixes a bug in Lossless to AAC Workflow (iTunes->iPod) that prevented creation of a playlist on iPod.

[head_unit]

And there's even a routine to combine double albums :-)

[Galley]

RealPlayer 10.5 will convert RealAudio Lossless files on the fly to MP3 or AAC as they transfer to the iPod. I haven't tried it with Apple Lossless files.

[Teqnilogik]

This does seem like a useful feature to add to iTunes. Wonder if Apple will add it eventually. It'd be a benefit to me because then I wouldn't have to store a collection of lossless and AAC files to put on my iPod. Right now I just have an AAC collection anyway but it'd be something to make me switch over to lossless in the future.

[shabbs]

RedChairSoftware's Anapod Explorer can do this with their AudioMorph feature. It will convert on the fly as it moves tracks to your iPod. I have never tried it personally so I can't comment on the performance or functionality of it.

More info here: http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

And of course in the Anapod forum here at iLounge.com:

http://forums.ilounge.com/forumdisplay.php?f=54

Cheers.