[kingskel]

I (still!) await my 17" imac. As it has DVD burning and an 80 GB drive, I want to convert my 200 odd CD's to the most practical storage format (I'm traveling and don't want to lug around 200 CDs...).

So, with the advent of QT6 and the advice of posters to this forum, I've decided to go the MP4 / AAC route. However, am I correct in stating that there now no way to quickly import/get any ID tags into the MP4 format?

I want to insert the CD, have it import the info from iTunes (or AppleCDPlayer), then burning the resulting file to MP4. Is this possible? I don't want to have to type in 4000 tags to keep my collection organized!

I've been using AACelerator, but it doesn't seem to import any info...

Any info appreciated...

[kingskel]

Anything? Any way I can quickly import ID3 info into these files? There's gotta be a way...

[lucylawless]

http://www.versiontracker.com/morein...d=15580&db=mac

I haven't used it, but since it looks like a simple applescript, and the QT features can be used from applescript without the pro version, I'm betting you don't need to buy qtpro

[rjenkinson]

Originally posted by kingskel:
I don't want to have to type in 4000 tags to keep my collection organized!

if you are using itunes and have an active internet connection, it should automatically check your CD against an internet database and label all of the tracks for you.

-r.

[kingskel]

Thanks Lucy, but I've got QTPro and it doesn't help (as far as automatically getting the ID3 info into the MP4/AAC file).

rjenkinson, my CD's are personal compilations, not commercial cds. Thus, they won't be recognized by cddb. I even thought of uploading the info, using it to tag the MP4s, then deleting the info from cddb, but it doesn't seem to work....

I know there must be a way to do this - it's a computer, and it's a Mac! I'll keep looking.

[lucylawless]

they're your own mixes, and you want software to somehow recognize each track and conjure the meta data for it? Where would it get this data from?

Or, are you trying to re-encode your mp3s and recycle the ID3 tags from the mp3 files? if this is the case, I wouldn't be surprised if no software exists or is in development, as recompressing compressed media is not a good idea, especially just to save about 20% of file size, and the usefulness of such a program would be very limited (you might even be the only person who would use it). You might be able to do this with applescript, getting QT to open each mp3, export to MP4 audio, copy in the new track and delete the old one, then export to MP4 again with passthrough. That might retain the original metadata. If that's what you want, try asking in the developer forum for a good applescript guy

[kingskel]

Hi Lucy:

Apologies - I wasn't clear. The CD's I have are my own compilation/mixes, yes. However, they have info listed (under AppleCDPlayer) in the form of (for example):

1. Some Song - Some Artist
2. Another Song - Another Artist

Itunes recognizes this info under OS9. So, if I share the iTunes database w/X I should be able to preserve this info. The problem (I think!) is that I cannot quickly rip from iTunes to MP4/AAC as AACelerator does. As AACelerator doesn't preserve the info, it seems I can either rip them all with AACelerator and rename them (kind of a drag with thousands of songs) or save them in the larger or inferior MP3 format and preserve what little info is there (I'd have to use another renamer app to take the filename and insert that into the ID3 tag.) Again, sorry if this isn't clear...

[lucylawless]

and that script I linked to above didn't work?

here it is again...

http://www.versiontracker.com/morein...d=15580&db=mac

[kingskel]

Hi Luce:

Unfortunately, that script doesn't work under 10.2 - it quits with some kind of error. I'll contact the author and check their plans about updating.

Thanks!

[lucylawless]

hmm. could you boot into OS 9 and set them up to encode overnight? or does the script not work in 9?

if this script is not updated, I would suggest that it's really not that hard to reimplement, and you might have luck posting it as a challenge in the developers forum. You might also look for other forums where applescript people might hang out...

or open iTunes' dictionary in script editor and hack it out yourself. applescript was designed to be used by non-programmers

(in case you can't tell, I don't consider waiting for an app to be developed a good solution )

[kingskel]

No biggie - I sent him an email and got a response within minutes:

"Yes, I'm aware of the problem. I will be updating the script for Jaguar once
I have Jaguar to play with; I should be all set by the end of the weekend,
so look for an update early next week!

Hope this doesn't set you back too much "

I think it's an iTunes 3 issue as well as an OS issue - something to do with a new naming convention in iTunes 3. I'll probably take your (initial) suggestion once he's fixed the app. I do a few things, but some I leave to others (I took programming - Pascal- a while back and it was hard to wrap my mind around). Still, I will probably look at the AS dictionary in iTunes.

Thanks for all your feedback.

[esc]

Just a question -- it isn't clear if these are being ripped from raw source, or if they have ever been compressed along the way. Assuming the right scripts are built the raw source (never been compressed) to aac will be excellent (I highly recommend using at least 128kpbs though).

If the files have ever been compressed, the results will be awful. mp3->aiff/wav->aac transcoding is full of artifacts and will sound seriously worse than mp3.

[kingskel]

Gotcha, thanks. I was planning on at least 192. About half the CD data are "raw" / uncompressed audio tracks, and the other half are mp3's I (somewhat foolishly, in retrospect) decompressed to aiff. How about re-converting those to mp3? Do you have any experience on how that would sound? I recently realized I should have kept the files in mp3 format, but I wanted - at that time - to have CDs I could play on my stereo. Which I no longer have. Sigh.

[kingskel]

Well, the new version of "Make Mine MPEG4" is out. Even before it came out, I spent a good part of the day experimenting with conversions. I took a few raw aiff files and tried them as AAC and also with a LAME add on for iTunes I came across in my research. The results were...interesting:

The LAME version sounds better the AAC/MP4 - much more audible/clearer and simply louder.

The LAME version was smaller than the AAC/MP4 version.x Both were encoded at 224.

THe LAME version is supported via iPod whereas AAC/MP4 isn't (yet, anyways).

The LAME version has visuals under iTunes whereas AAC/MP4 isn't (again, not yet).Not only did the visuals not work under AAC, there was a definite strain on the processor when playing them.

There was also a lack of cddb lookup in LAME's favor until the new version of MMM4. However, should I wish to do any mass re-naming/info/etc., the LAME files are supported under MP3 Rage where AAC/MP4 isn't.

The deciding factor for me - I don't have an iPod - is the sound. It may just be the QuickTime AAC encoder (which I read is not quite up to par yet), but I am thinking of going with the LAME deal. I already processed 20 or so CD's in anticipation of MMM4 (even entered a bunch of info by hand - sigh), but the QT implementation doesn't seem up to snuff yet.

I hope this info is helpful to somebody.

Also, I have figured out the solution to the compilation CD's: I'll insert them all in the drive under OS9. iTunes 2.0.4 under 9 will recognize them from the Apple CDPlayer database I brought over from my old computer. I'll copy the resultant iTunes library over to X and install iTunesX 2.0.4 and import the library. I'll "upgrade" to iTunes 3 and pray that it recognized the older library. What do you think?