replace songs with different type?

[miniMAMF]

Hi all

Say I've got an album ripped in AAC128. I want to re-rip it in LAME mp3, for a number of reasons I won't get into here.

Is it possible to replace the library items with the new ones and still keep playcounts, ratings, comments, etc, that are in the tags?

I've tried "convert selection to mp3" - which creates duplicate copies - not terribly useful, and then erasing the files in the itunes directory, then locating each one to the new ripped mp3's. It's a long process, but by coverting to mp3, all the tags are resets except comments. Ratings have to be re-done and playcounts are zeroed.

Is there an easy way around this? I might want to do many albums.

I also do not want iTunes to manage my library.

Thanks!

 

[studogvetmed]

In iTunes, if you rerip from the original source tagged exactly the same as the previous iTunes files you will get a warning about ripping the same file and will be asked if you want to replace. If you say yes, playcounts, last played, etc will be preserved, even ratings.

This may or may not work if you are going for lame. Is there a lame plugin for iTunes? If part of the reason you are going to lame is for quality, definitely don't convert from the AAC file, it's a wasted effort as you actually lose quality. It may not be noticable, but the loss is there.

"Code Monkey" another user here has stated in a previous thread that he has had luck simply replacing files on the hard drive. As long as the files are named the same, the iTunes library will know exactly how to find the new file and it will think the previous playcount, rating, etc in it's library file matches the new file. The caveat to this is he discovered with iTunes 7's recent gapless addition that it also attached poor gapless information to the new files.

See this thread: http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=176770

They may even be able to help you in your search for a good way to replace files.

Good luck,
Stu

 

[miniMAMF]

Thanks for the reply. I know that if the filenames are the same, iTunes just streams the revised copy. This would work if the originals were mp3. But since the file extension changes from .mp4 to .mp3, iTunes can't find the file. That's why I thought that converting to mp3 as an intermediate step might help, but the conversion blanks out the ratings and playcount tags.

If iTunes for Windows used the LAME encoder, I would be happy. As it stands, I rip with Audiograbber, process them with mp3Gain, and then import into iTunes.

 

[studogvetmed]

Do you have the original source CDs. You may be able to rip into iTunes with Mp3, to replace the files in iTunes, preserving rating, and then once they are MP3s replace with the appropriate lame ripped files...

This would sadly mean ripping twice, but may be the only work around available to you without hacks to the iTunes library file, which even if I knew they were possible, would be beyond me...

Good luck,
Stu

 

[miniMAMF]

Yeah, that might work, but again, it's getting to the "effort threshold" where it may not even be worth it. Thanks for the idea - it's probably the best solution.