ITunes song bit rate

All the music I download from the iTunes shop comes as 128 kbps bitrate. I seem to recall setting this up when I created my account, but would like to increase it to a higher bit rate. Does anyone know how I might do this?

He's referring to downloads from the iTMS, which is a constant 128 kbps. There is no "setting" for that.
True, but there are songs in the iTMS which have a higher bitrate than that. Not many, but a couple here or there.
The bitrate is basically set by the artist/uploader/encoder. This stuff isn't encoded "on-the-fly" at Apple. They don't set the bitrate at which people download the stuff. If some independant artist wanted to use a higher bitrate when putting their music on the store, I don't think there's anything preventing them from actually doing it.

Similar Messages

  • ITunes & Constant Bit Rate

    Hi. Okay this is my first time posting here. Up till now I've been decently satisfied with my iPhone. However right now I'm trying to import some songs from a CD that I own onto my computer and into my iTunes Library.
    Okay so I watched the tutorial video. I did a little research online and I found the way to change the import settings.
    I want a HIGH QUALITY music file in the .aac format at a CONSTANT BIT RATE.
    Following me so far? With that in mind when it came to the 1st screen I selected "Custom" and I choose
    Stereo Bit Rate: 320
    Sample Rate: 44.100 kHz
    Channels: Auto
    Within this window the option "Use Variable Bit Rate" was SELECTED.
    I unchecked/deselected it because I want a CBR (Constant Bit Rate).
    And then I hit "Okay" thinking that I had done everything correct and perfectly.
    Then I was back at the Main Pain. I hit Import CD hoping it would use the custom settings. However when I went to the folder to my shock and surprise it was giving me music files with a varying bit rate.
    Some files were 325. Others were 321 and a few 319. This is NOT what I wanted and not what I expected from iTunes. I tell it to not use VBR it should be doing CBR right?
    So that's why I'm hear. What do I need to do to get this to WORK the way I want it to? Or should I just give up and use another program like Windows Media Player to rip my songs into .mp3? I'd rather use .aac since I hear it's better quality and it's the evolution of mp3.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated....
    Message was edited by: TheLionOfAzzalle

    It's still NOT working.
    I've done exactly the way you suggested. I've also tried it with "use error correction" and it still doesn't give me what I want.
    The only thing that sorta produces what I want is when I put it to mono and start the importing process the files all come out at the same bitrate.
    However the highest bitrate I can get with that is 160. And that's not what I want.
    I'm about to just give up. On top of iTunes being ridiculous slow on all Windows computers I now find that importing songs is a complete hassle.

  • TS5181 iTunes radio - Bit Rate and recording

    There is an ongoing comparision to Pandora however, I suggest that Pandora offers a better value by far:
    1. iTunes Radio does not state bit-rate
    2. Pandora One is 192kb for $40/yr, with no adds; free Pandora is 64kb and has adds
    3. PandoraJam permits recording to Mac, $15 one-time cost, 192kb unlimited downoads
    4. iTunes Match, at $25/yr, permits saving current and paid misic to iCloud plus no adds, but STILL charges $1.29/song.
    NOTE: I am pro Apple and nearly all my IT devices are Apple however; this is a difficult business case.
    Can anyone tell me why iTunes Radio would be a better deal?

    I'm curious as well what the bit rate is for iTunes Radio and am suprised Apple hasn't published it. 
    Forbes.com is doing a followup story soon which will compare iTunes Radio, Spotify and Pandora that you may want to check out. 
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/amadoudiallo/2013/09/18/apple-releases-itunes-radio- a-pandora-alternative/
    Amadou Diallo, Contributor 1 day ago
    Apple has a history of withholding geek-oriented specs on consumer-oriented products. By their silence I think we can assume that it’s not higher than what Pandora’s max setting offers. And it certainly wouldn’t make sense for the rate to be greater than the 256 kbps of iTunes purchases.
    There’s also the possibility that Apple is offering adaptive rates depending on whether a user is connected over WiFi or cellular.
    I’m working on a story comparing aspects of iTunes Radio, Pandora and Spotify (stay tuned) and I’ll report on whether there’s an audible difference between them.
    Also found a post on Macrumors by someone who did their own "test" yesterday who is suggesting that it is 256 kbps similar to what you get for iTunes purchases. 
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1639713
    Money and "value" aside, I've been listening to iTunes Radio for a day now on my Denon AVR and B &W surround sound system via airplay streaming to my AppleTV and it sounds as good as Pandora One -- and I think the playlist alogorithim is superior to Pandora as I'm hearing a bunch more variety and music I like on a station I created similar to one I have on Pandora.

  • Help about converting songs (bit rate)

    Hi,just before begining I want to say that I did a search about the topic and found many things so what I am looking for is different opinions.
    I read that if I convert songs from one compress format to another, the songs will lose some quality no mather what's the compressed format and bit rate. Is that true? Like if I go from Mp3 to acc?
    Another thing that I want to be sure of is that AAC at 160kbps is audio cd quality. Is that true?
    Well thanks in advance

    Hi Maxime
    First: yes if you convert a .mp3 file to .acc it will lose some quality, because both formats are compressing the original data by using a alogrithm. Compressing an already compressed file = Data loss = Loss of quality. The todays compressing methods are really great and the loss won't be much, I guess. But you have to try out and listen to it to decide if it's still ok for you.
    The term "cd quality" is (miss)used on every second website. The thing is, songs on a CD are in a noncompressed format (like .wav) so it's not possible to get a .mp3 file, that reachs exactly the same quality. But an mp3 of 192kbps you get nice results and it should be ok for most of the users. ACC should be a bit smaller by the same quality level, but I don't use it. If you want real CD quality, you have to buy it or burn it without any compression.
    Thats not the ultimative truth but only my opinion.
    cheers
    P

  • HT204406 how do I download higher bit rate songs from itunes match to replace the lower bit rate I have on my itunes library?

    I have itunes match and I have about 500 songs that were ripped at 128kbps. I have been tolf that I can replace them via itunes match to improve them to 256 or 320?
    I have put them into a playlist in my itunes library and I want to know how I can upgrade their bit rate via itunes match. Can anyone help me?

    Sid,
    With the device connected, click the Summary tab and you will see the "Convert higher bit rate..." option.  Set it to 128.  See picture below:

  • After I download a 256 kbps song using ITunes Match, how do I get it to play on my computer at the higher bit rate once I turn ITunes Match off again?

    After I download a 256 kbps song from the cloud using ITunes Match, how do I get it to play on my computer once I turn ITunes Match off again? I have been using ITunes Match for awhile now to increase the bit rate on songs to 256 kbps.  Once I download the songs at the new bit rate, I turn off Match because I want to eliminate duplicates. Usually there is no problem. This time, however, 278 of my songs lost their file association and were unplayable unless I locate the song files within my computer.  These are songs purchased from Amazon.  In order to play them again in ITunes (Match is now off), I must locate each song file individually (I've tried to do it in bulk but have not succeeded) but now the bit rate has returned to the lower number BEFORE I matched the song.  I should have never used Match in the first place. Any ideas, anyone?

    I discovered that the NEW 256 bit file does reside on my computer, in the ITunes files (My Music/ITunes/ITunes Media/Music.  So I can bring the songs back as 256 kbps, and I have been successful now at locating more than one file at a time, by clicking on the "find other missing files" tab in the popup window.  Previously, I'd been going back to my Amazon files, and not only was I unable to bring back a 256 version, but the popup window would not locate similar files.  So while I wish ITunes Match would automatically associate the ITunes Match file, at least I can retrive the file association without hours and hours of work.

  • If I have converted my purchased iTunes songs to a lower bit rate what will happen when I join iTunes match? Will they match up or will these be stored as duplicates of the same song?

    If I have converted my purchased iTunes songs to a lower bit rate what will happen when I join iTunes match? Will they match up or will these be stored as duplicates of the same song?
    I ask because I primarily use my work laptop which has limited space so I usually convert my purchases to 160k from 256k in order to save space. I want to sign up for iTunes Match but I'd like to know before I do so I can understand how I will have to set up my library.

    crichton007 wrote:
    What I may do is start a brand new library there, copy my tracks from my work laptop using Home Share and then the script to get things in sync before starting over again there too.
    Why create a new library? Just add the tracks from the laptop to the existing library on the Mac.
    crichton007 wrote:
    I was just hoping to hear definitively whether or not there was some sort of intelligence built into iTunes Match that would match these up...
    How do you mean? If you down-convert purchased tracks you've fundamentally changed the files so iTunes can no longer recoginize them as "purchased." And, indeed, they no longer are since they are brand new files. Of course these new files will only be "matched" or "uploaded."

  • [Bug] iOS 5.1 missing covers after "convert higher bit rate songs to" with iTunes 10.6

    All my music has covers in iTunes Library. But after i updated to iOS 5.1 they are missing on my devices.
    It happens every time i check "convert higher bit rate songs to 192/256 kbps" on iTunes 10.6 (40) on my Mac.
    On the screenshot (iPad 2010 running iOS 5.1) Bon Iver's album copied by default settings, and Coldplay's album converted to 192 kbps.
    BTW on my old iPhone 3G (iOS 4.2.1) all covers are OK even when convert feature is ON.

    I have solved it by unchecking (momentaneously till apple fix it) the "Convert higher bit rate songs" option.
    I know that it need more space but i don't have too much music synced so.. it isn't a problem for me..
    I have this problem because i'm using the "manually manage music and videos", i'm not using the auto sync option because iTunes always try to copy my new apps to my mac even having that option unchecked...
    Now we have iCloud... i don't know why apple still have not deleted this feature!
    Anyway... i have solved it momentaneously.
    Apple.... come on!

  • ITunes 7 and Shuffle:"Convert higher bit rate songs to 128kbps AAC" broken

    This has become unusably slow in iTunes 7. Is this fixed yet? Does anyone have a workaround?

    I have the same issue but with my iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS. Songs play fine in iTunes. If is uncheck Convert higher bit rate songs to 128kbps AAC the no more scratching sounds on my devices.

  • Is it possible to raise the bit rate of songs higher than 256 on iTunes? If not what should i use or do to raise the bit rate of songs?

    Is it possible to raise the bit rate of songs higher than 256 on iTunes? If not what should i use or do to raise the bit rate of songs?

    Songs you rip from CD can have their bitrate increased to a maximum of 320Kbps from the iTunes preferences; alternatively, the default encoder can be changed to a lossless one. Songs from other sources have a fixed maximum bitrate.
    (67928)

  • Changing bit rate, etc. on songs already in iTunes library

    I've done this many times before, but I keep forgetting how, and I haven't found the HELP menu to be of help. Anyway, I have a recording that Id like to share, but its file is too large, so I have to reduce it by decreasing the bit rate. How do I do this?

    iTunes: How to convert a song to a different file format - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1550 - including information about different formats and discussion about compression.
    Topic: Need to convert mp4 to mp3 - Zevoneer's post on converting songs - http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9244740
    This also applies to different bitrate with same format.

  • Converting Bit Rate of iTunes Purchased songs

    I am in the process of converting all my music files to 112 bit to allow for mores space on my iPod. However, the songs I have gotten of iTunes through the music store are protected and it won't allow me to convert them . My method of converting the songs is to select them in itunes and then go to the pulldown menu "Advanced" and then to select "Convert Selection to AAC" and subsiqently convert the bit rate. Is there any way to convert the "protected" songs to a smaller bit rate?
    Thank you for your help.

    Robert
    Short of burning the track to a cd and then re-ripping them at the lower bitrate, no, there is no way to reduce the sound quality of your purchased music.
    Regards
    TD

  • What is the recorded bit rate of iTunes songs i buy?

    What is the recorded bit rate of iTunes songs I buy?  192/24?  Other?
    Thanks!

    Thanks for the prompt reply, Neil!
    (For some strange reason the system is letting me reply , but won't let me award you a "This solved my question."  I'll have to try again later.)

  • How do I reduce the bit rate when listening to iTunes preview of songs ? It is eating up my bandwidth

    I like to listen to music previews on my iphone before I decide to buy. But this is eating up my bandwidth. Even the previews are at 256 kbps. This is 4 times higher than Amazon which is 64 kbps. Is there any way to set my access to a lower bit rate, or adjust it to mono or anything ? The bandwidth cost is killing me. Thanks in advance.

    For existing tracks, see:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1550
    For CDs you import in the future, change the Import settings in the iTunes -> General preferences.
    As to what will be a good bit rate, that's going to be up to you and what quality you find acceptable, but many people find that 128 kbps AAC is the optimum balance between small file size and quality.

  • What is the bit rate for the songs streaming on iTunes Radio?

    Is it 256kbps AAC file?

    I have to agree with you.  There are several forum discussions on bit rate being as high as 256 kbps but I don't see how it could be more than 96 kbps based on the poor sound quality I'm hearing.  I'm comparing it to an internet radio station that is 128 kbps and sounds much better.
    Am I missing something?

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