Basic Exporting Question

Question

My main question is a very basic exporting question, but here is a super-condensed explanation of my big-picture goal for context:
Large (~450 MB) aiff on CD --> trim w/ Quicktime --> small (~16 MB) MP3 in iTunes
I would like to take an audio file (aiff) that is approximately 450 MB and export it from Quicktime and in doing so, reduce the file size and convert it to MP3. When I simply try to export it, it doesn't ask me about what size I want, nor does it give the option of MP3 formatting.
I have figured out how to reach my goal, but it's a mess. After I make my trims in QT, I have to:
1. select "share" instead of "export".
2. It asks me what size I want and I select small.
3. The file is then exported as a Quicktime movie into Mail and the size is reduced from 450 MB to about 20 MB.
4. I then have to "right-click" on the attachment in the email that is created,
5. save the attachment,
6. discard the email,
7. import the file into iTunes, and
8. create an MP3 in iTunes to finally arrive at my goal.
This seems like a ridiculously convoluted process to change a large aiff to a small MP3 and put it in iTunes. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Thanks. I guess the basic answer to my question is that it can't be done in one or two fell swoops. The problem is that it starts on a burned disc, and I need to make edits to it before it ends up in iTunes (to be eventually used in iWeb). I was hoping to avoid juggling back and forth between iTunes and QT. I either would have to send it back to QT to do the edits after -->iTunes-->mp3, or import the large file from the CD to QT, make the edits, save changes, import large file to iTunes, convert to mp3.