How to Convert Music to MP3, AAC, AIFF or WAV With iTunes
I was trying to create an iPhone ringtone using Rogue Amoeba’s MakeiPhoneRingTone application. This applicaiton requires AAC files to be dragged in. “No problem,” I thought, “iTunes does AAC conversions.” And it does but apparently, the interface to get there has become really obfuscated so I thought I’d document how to do it. Everything else out there is horribly outdated and inaccurate.
First, you might find on Apple, this support document about how to do this. That process, though only 6 months old, is also outdated but it did help me figure out the real process.
Here’s the process to convert media to the format you want now:
- Go to your preferences (iTunes>Preferences on OSX and Edit>Preferences on Windows).
- Under the first tab “General”, there is an area where you decide how to deal with Audio CDs. Clearly, the import settings here apply to ALL import settings. Click on “Import Settings …”.
- Under the “Import Using” dropdown, select the format you want to convert your media to.
- Optionally, select the quality you desire.
- Close all the preferences windows.
- Select one or more songs from your iTunes library.
- If you right click over your selection, you will see the option to “Create AAC version” or “Create MP3 version” etc. Or you can access the same option from the “Advanced” menu.
In case anyone is interested, before converting them to AAC, I used Audacity to format my music to a manageable, ringtone chunk.
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