Importing songs/file size

After downloading songs from cds, the file sizes are way too big. Ex. a 53 second song is 890.9 KB, this is taking up all the room in my ipod and i have less than 2000 songs on my 30GB ipod and it says i only have 3GB left. How do I fix this?

WAV files are uncompressed so basically you are importing you CDs full size. To get the maximum number of files on an iPod you need to use a compressed format such as AAC or MP3 for example. If you have imported uncompressed files they can be converted in iTunes, have a read of these articles:
iTunes: About import settings and hard disk space
How to convert a song to a different format
How To Choose Import Settings

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Importing song files between computers

Hi. I've been trying to help my wife import song files from her desktop PC iTunes library to her laptop PC iTunes library, without much success (I'm a Mac guy). Her iTunes libraries can "see" each other, but when you try to access them, a message appears along the lines of "please make sure your firewall software enables port 3689", or words to that effect. In other words, I should be able to at least play songs on one computer from another, but I can't even do that at this point, much less import them, which is what I'm really trying to do.
Sorry for the rambling....I'm just trying to include details for you all.
Thanks!

It sounds like you just need to disable the firewall, if not, the whole virus program itself to use iTunes...it does that sometimes (I don't blame you for being a Mac guy...I envy you).
If this doesn't work, repost and I'll see what else I can do
ryanjeffrey

Reducing song file size AFTER importing

I now realize that I should have used the iTunes preferences to set the import file type and the quality setting BEFORE importing songs. However, I now have over 170 songs in my iTunes library, and I would like to be able to reduce the file sizes for those songs. I will change the iTunes settings before importing any more songs, but I would like to be able to reduce the sizes of those files that I have already imported. Some of them are as large as 6 MB, while most of them are around 3 MB. Both are too big. Is there any way to take care of this problem? I am particularly concerned about those songs that I imported from the iTunes store after paying for them. Songs that I imported from my CDs can be done over, but I don't want lose the money that I have invested on those songs that I bought from iTunes.
iMac DV (Special Edition) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
iMac DV (Special Edition) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Your answer reverses the usual order: it starts out with the bad news but then finishes with the good news...I think. I guess you're saying that nothing can be done with the songs I have purchased from iTunes. With them, I'm stuck with 3 MB for the usual 3-minute song. Well, so much for iTunes, then. I'll certainly never buy any more songs from them. That IS bad news. On the other hand, I think you're saying that I CAN convert songs I obtain from my CDs to smaller bundles. I used to do that quite routinely when I was in OS 9, but I'm not sure of how to do it now that I'm using OS 10.3.9. I hope it's not much more difficult, but I'll just have to see. Anyway, thanks for the information. Now I have to study OS 10 and the latest version of iTunes.
iMac DV (Special Edition) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Song file sizes too big from CDs

when i purchase itunes, the songs are usually between 3 to 5mb. however, when i transfer music from CDs, the song files are anywhere from 3mb to 89mb! Why is this, and isn't there a way to reduce the file sizes? because of this, i can only get about half the amount of music on my nano that it is supposed to be able to hold.
help! please!

In iTunes, go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Importing tab
You need to change it to something different when you rip your CDs.
To figure out what you want, fo into iTunes > Help > iTunes Help
Expand the table of contents and find this
*About import settings and hard disk space*
It explains the choices.

Song file size

hey i was reading the topics about importing songs from cds and changing the sizes of the files.
i download most of my songs and i only have 540 songs, but it also says i am using up 2.43 GB. I am wondering what is taking up all the space?

That is about the correct size. Songs are usually ~3-5 MB.
2.43GB/540 songs is ~4.5MB per song.

Imported song files too big

I'm having trouble importing music from a CD. I'm getting files of 25MB to 40MB for three to four minute songs. Shouldn't a 3 minute song be around 3MBs? Any advice on getting smaller files?
I'd like to burn these to a CD for play on a standard stereo, so I don't want to go to MP3. My current import settings are: AIFF encoder/custom--running iTunes 5.
thanks!

Heidi--
I'm getting files of 25MB to 40MB for three to four minute songs.
Which sounds about right. I usually figure about 10MB per minute for uncompressed stereo audio. When you import as AIFF, if you use 16-bit stereo audio at 44.1kHz, you're getting the same size files as are on the CD.
Any advice on getting smaller files?
If you still want the same quality as the CD, try the Apple Lossless encoder. I've never tried it, but people say you can cut the file size by about half.
I'd also suggest that you should import some songs at varying other compression levels and see how they sound. You might find a setting, like the other poster did, which would be acceptable to you, yet yield an even smaller file size.
A lot depends on your personal tastes and how well you can hear the differences between compression settings. For example, I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of sound quality for smaller file size because my iPod's battery lasts longer if I use smaller files. But it's a trade-off I'm willing to make because I also listen to my iPod in environments where there's a lot of background noise, etc., so the audio quality difference isn't that apparent to me.
best,
charlie

Single song file size limit?

What is the size limit, if any, for a single song file?
Thanks!

No Jim, you can't do it that way. Only when you import from CD's the files will be imported according to the setting in iTunes preferences. If you import a file from you computerdisk it will (try to) import your AIFF-file as is. You can convert files within iTunes, but that file has to be a part of the iTunes-library already. In your case it isn't.
So you need to convert it outside iTunes and then import the ALAC-file to into iTunes. You said you made this file in Logic Pro. I guess Logic pro can do this for you. You load the file in Logic Pro and export it as ALAC file again. Then you import that new file in iTunes and I bet you're in business.
Good Luck.

Importing song files

I was able to import Garageband 6.0 song files from my G4 laptop to itunes, but I was wondering if importing to the newest version of Garageband was at all possible?

GrageBand 10.0 can open Garageband 6.0.song projects, but it will create an upgraded copy, and you cannot open this copy any longer in the older version.
But from a G4? are you really asking about GarageBand 6.0 or GarageBand '06?
GarageBand 6.0 would mean GarageBand '11, version 6.0. Apples version numbers are really confusing!

Importing AVI - file size

I'm sure i'm missing something...
I have some very small avi files (under 10mb)... when I load them into imovie HD, it takes 2 plus minutes to load and the imported clip size goes up to 500mb.
is there anyway to keep the file size down?
Thanks!
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

iMovie is a DV Stream editing app.
Any file not already in .dv format will be converted to it.
DV Stream is 13GB's per hour.

Unusually Large Song File Size

I've noticed some of my songs (protected and unprotected) have unusually large file sizes. At first I found multiple instances of 100MB sized files. I made a playlist to collect them and found more than 100 songs that are larger than 50MB.
All the songs are set at a maximum 128kbps bit rate, that usually translates to 1MB/minute, right? Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

You have a screen grab but don't show it. You need to show what you have as your description isn't filling in the blanks.
From the iTunes Help Menu with a search for 'protected'
<*Usage rights for iTunes Store purchases*
Many of the songs you purchase from the iTunes Store are protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM). These protected purchases can be:
Played on up to five computers
Synced with your iPod
Synced with or streamed to your Apple TV
Burned to audio CDs or DVDs (you can burn a song an unlimited number of times, and as part of a playlist up to seven times)
The iTunes Store also offers songs without DRM protection, from participating record labels. These DRM-free songs, called "iTunes Plus," have no usage restrictions and feature higher-quality encoding.
The first time you buy an iTunes Plus song, you specify whether to make all future purchases iTunes Plus versions (when available). You can change this setting by accessing your account information on the iTunes Store.
If you already have iTunes Store purchases that are now available as iTunes Plus downloads, you may upgrade your existing purchases. To do so, visit the iTunes Store and follow the onscreen instructions.>
As noted you can burn a iTS tune to an audio CD - you can figure out the rest.
MJ
Message was edited by: Mike Johnson12

How can I reduce imported AVCHD file sizes

Help! I have a Sony HDR SR1 video camera (AVCHD format) and I import files directly into imovie for editing. the problem is that imovie is creating massive files that are rapidly filling my 500GB disk. One minute of imported HD video (which imovie stores as a quicktime file) takes up about 32GB. It hasn't taken long to wipe out my disk at that rate.
Does anyone else have this issue? Is there a more appropriate way of storing the raw footage? The video camera only store 30GB on its internal disk and this is meant provide around 7 hours of HD footage. If the file sizes really do need to be that large is there anyone out there who's sorted out storage and backup routines?

One minute of imported HD video (which imovie stores as a quicktime file) takes up about 32GB.
If you are going to play with the big boys (full HD) you need big big equipment (LOTS of hard disk space).
Why not ask the question in the iMovie or FCP/FCE forums.

Reducing song file size

If a song was converted from aif to mp3 but is still deemed too big for a certain purpose, how can you further reduce the MB's?

Your answer reverses the usual order: it starts out with the bad news but then finishes with the good news...I think. I guess you're saying that nothing can be done with the songs I have purchased from iTunes. With them, I'm stuck with 3 MB for the usual 3-minute song. Well, so much for iTunes, then. I'll certainly never buy any more songs from them. That IS bad news. On the other hand, I think you're saying that I CAN convert songs I obtain from my CDs to smaller bundles. I used to do that quite routinely when I was in OS 9, but I'm not sure of how to do it now that I'm using OS 10.3.9. I hope it's not much more difficult, but I'll just have to see. Anyway, thanks for the information. Now I have to study OS 10 and the latest version of iTunes.
iMac DV (Special Edition) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Can i have a smaller file size for songs that i put on iphone vs mac

i have ripped a lot of my cds to itunes on my MBA. i used the aac high quality setting.
is there a way that i can upload lower quality/smaller size versions of the songs that i will put on my new iphone ?
Q2: once i rip cd into itunes (on my MBA)... is there an easy way I can later decide to save space and re encode them at 128 instead of 256 (for example).
i notice that you cant just willy nilly copy/delete from the itunes media folder because itunes doesnt seem to 'refresh' with the new files.
thx!

1. the ONLY place i see where you can set the sampling rate,etc is under preferences/general/'when a cd is inserted".... am i missing something?
No.
2. when i want to add an existing mp3 file (from outside the apple realm) , i am using itunes "add to library" and browsing to some mp3 file(s) . it doesnt give me a option to convert it to an m4a format... it seems to just add it to the itunes library without changing the mp3 file .... do i have any option here?
You don't need to convert formats and I would not recommend you do so. You will simply lose quality.
To answer your original question...
can i have a smaller file size for songs that i put on iphone vs mac
If you want smaller files on the iPhone, see my post above which converts them when syncing to theiPhone.
If you really want to convert when adding songs to iTunes...
iTunes prefs > General - Import settings as you want.
Hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) and choose File > Create New Version > Convert AAC (or what your settings are in previous step).
This will convert and add the file instead of adding the file then converting and having 2 of the same song in iTunes.

How do I see file sizes of songs?

2 questions actually.
1st. How do I analyze my iTunes library to see which song files take up the most space? Is there a best practice for doing this? Is it through iTunes? Or through the Finer? Please advise.
2nd. How do I have 2 formats of a song in my library, i.e. an aiff file in iTunes, which always only stays on my computer, and an Apple Lossless version of the same song/track which I can sync to my iPod Touch? Is there something more flexible than the File-->Create New Version-->Create mp3? I don't want mp3, that resolution is too low. I would like to have Apple Lossless.
Running iTunes 11.1.3
Thanks!

Hi,
In song view, go to menu > view > view options and select bit rate, file type and size.
In preferences, you can change import settings to Apple lossless. When you use file > create new version you can now can now convert from aiff to lossless.
Create playlist based of file type being lossless.
Jim

File sizes for importing CDs.

hello,
I have recently switched from PC to Mac and I have noticed that when ripping CDs into itunes it says at the bottom "songs 14 time 1 hour size 600MB"
is the size taken up on my MacBook going to be 600 MB?? it is Claptons unplugged album. When I used to import CDs on to my PC the total size would havebeen about 60MB.
My settings are AAC (I was using MP3 @ 128kb but thought I would change to see if it made a difference).
any advice would be much appreciated.

it says at the bottom "songs 14 time 1 hour size 600MB"
You're looking at the file size of the uncompressed music on the CD. If you RIP them as AIFF or WAV, yes, it will take around 600MB (44.1k/16-bit audio takes about 10MB/minute).
is the size taken up on my MacBook going to be 600 MB?? [...] My settings are AAC
Using a compressed lossy format at a low bitrate like 128K the files will take more like 1MB/minute, so no, it will not take 600MB of HD space. ~~Hang

Importing songs/file size

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