Apple Lossless files to convert to AAC

[Andos]

Hi,
i have stupidly taken my songs down onto my ipod with the Apple Lossless encoder. Does anyone know of a painfree way of changing the files to AAC format?

Cheers all.

Andos

[nmerriam]

Just change the "importing" settings in preferences to AAC in iTunes, select all, and right click. You'll have "Convert selection to AAC" as an option, it'll take a while but do exactly what you're asking.

Afterwards, you can just sort by "Kind" and delete all the Apple Lossless files.

[lovlelea9]

Hi! I did the same thing, importing my cds in the apple lossless format without noticing that about 500 songs took up over 15 gigs! Is there any program which will convert the songs that ive already imported so i dont have to do it directly from the cd again? Thanks so much!

[ckeilah]

Move all of your files from your ~/Music/iTunes folder to a Firewire drive. Delete the entire iTunes folder from ~/Music. In iTunes, clear the iTunes Library; then (in Preferences/Advanced/General) turn OFF "copy imported files to iTunes directory" and drag over all of the folders containing lossless files from the Firewire drive (figure out which folders contain the lossless files and which contain already compressed files and just copy the lossless ones at this point). Then (in Preferences/Advanced/Importing) set the import settings to AAC or MP3 or whatever format you want. Back in Preferences/Advanced/General select "copy all imported files to iTunes directory". Then in the iTunes Library "Select all" (command-a), then right click (or control click) and choose "convert selected to AAC". Watch as the files are converted to AAC and copied into your iTunes directory! Once they're all converted you can drag over the remaining files from the Firewire drive and they'll be copied into your iTunes directory without re-encoding them.

CAVEAT: if you have any !@#$ING "Rights managed" files you could screw yourself out of the licenses. I don't know how it works but "copies" of these files seem to cause the license to become FUBAR and the song to be unplayable. Just say NO to "rights managed" media!! AAARGH!!! ;-)

I am smart! I make it go!