Video:iTunes Import Preferences

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Transcript:iTunes Import Preferences

Hi. I am Don Schechter for About.com computing.

Today I am going to show you how to set import preferences in iTunes and change the encoding format of your music.

iTunes Encoding Preference

You can encode your music as an AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless Encoder, AIFF, or WAV file. The encoding you choose affects the audio quality and size of the song file. The larger the file the better the quality.

Go to Edit on a PC or go to the iTunes drop down menu on a Mac and in both cases click on Preferences. Now click the Advanced tab and click Importing.

The first drop-down menu displays what the program will do when you insert your CD music.

Mine is automatically set to show the songs on the CD. I can change this to Begin playing a CD when inserted, automatically import songs, or import songs then eject the CD when done.

Here you can choose an encoder from the Import Using drop-down menu. iTunes and iPods will play songs encoded in AAC or Apple Lossless.

iTunes Encoding Preference for an Alternate Player

If you're using a different program or different MP3 player to listen to your music choose the MP3 encoder.

iTunes Encoding Preference for Audio CD

If you want to burn audio CDs with the songs you're importing, you probably want to use the apple lossless or wav encoder.

iTunes Encoding, Bit Rate Preference

Under the setting drop-down menu you can choose a bit rate.

The default setting is usually good enough for me, however if I'm importing music as MP3s, I'll choose the higher bitrate setting.

However, this will make the file size larger so if you're worried about disk space, keep it at high or good quality. Keep in mind if you choose Apple Lossless you cannot change any settings.

iTunes Custom Encoding Preference

If you're feeling adventurous you can click on custom and change even more settings, including the stereo bit rate, sample rate, and channels. I'll leave all this alone and settle on mp3 and click OK.

Import a CD With New iTunes Preference

I've loaded my CD in my computer and now when I click on import CD, it will convert the music to mp3s which I can locate in my iTunes Music folder.

My folder is under my documents, my music, itunes, itunes music, and there is the album and song. There it is as an mp3.

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