How to Convert iTunes Music to MP3
People usually refer to all sorts of digital music as simply “MP3,” though that’s not always correct. You may have noticed that the paid music you get from iTunes Store is not in MP3 format. MP3 is a specific format used for storing digital audio.
If you download iTunes music and find out that they are not in MP3 format there is a useful tool built into the program that can convert songs to MP3 format in several simple steps. Here is what you need to know to get your mission accomplished.
Default iTunes Music Format
The songs you buy from iTunes Store appear in the AAC format. These files in the given format work well not only with Apple products, but also with products from other companies. Nevertheless, users will occasionally experience problems while trying to play AAC songs on MP3 players making it necessary to convert iTunes music to the MP3 format. You may avail yourself of a variety of programs that can successfully perform this conversion.
Steps to Export iTunes Song to MP3
First, you will need to check conversion settings on your device to make sure they are appropriately set for creating MP3s. To do it, open iTunes “Preferences.”
Then, go to the “General Tab,” click on “Import Settings” and choose MP3.
Next, in your iTunes Store choose the songs you would like to export to MP3 and click on them. You may highlight one song at a time or select groups of songs or album by selecting the first song, hold down “Shift” and select the last song. It is also possible to hold the “Command” key on Mac or “Control” on Windows and then select the necessary songs.
Once all the songs you intend to convert are highlighted, you’ll need to click the “File” Menu in iTunes.
Afterwards, select “Convert” (note that in older versions of iTunes, it can be “Create New Version”).
Select “Create MP3 version” to finally export your AAC iTunes songs to the MP3 format.
As a result, you will see two versions of your songs. The first file will remain in the AAC format, while the newly created one will be in MP3.
What to do with Unwanted Songs
The ACC version of the songs you have converted to the MP3 format will take up useful space on your hard drive. If so, you are free to delete them. Just go to the iTunes library, select a single song that you want to delete and click it once. Then, press “Delete.”
If you want to delete the entire album you will need to click on the icon located next to the album title. Once you are done with selecting the unwanted items, you can either hit the “Delete” key on your keyboard, or navigate to the “Edit” menu and select “Delete” there. Or, there is the simplest way, which implies right-clicking on the item and pressing “Delete.”
Conversion and Sound Quality
Have you heard that songs tend to lose their sound quality after being converted? Unfortunately, that’s true. Exporting songs to different formats slightly reduces the audio quality of your music.
Both AAC and MP3 represent compressed versions of the original song file, which can be several times larger compared to its compressed versions. Consequently, sound quality gets reduced even during the initial compression creating original formats. Any subsequent conversion of the original file to another format results in more compression and more quality loss. So, you may want to refrain from converting the same song to another format too many times.
