Convert m4a (aac) to mp3

I used iTunes to copy songs off the VBS CD, which encoded them in AAC format (M4A container). My video editor doesn’t accept that format, so I needed to convert them to mp3. After trying lots of programs that Google offered me, many of which claimed to be “free” but were really just “free trials”, I finally found the solution in a forum post. It turns out that you can do the conversion right in iTunes, totally free and totally cool.

1. Go into iTunes Preferences, and change the importing mode back to the MP3 mode you like

2. Now select the tracks that you want to change back, and go to the Advanced menu. There is an item called “convert selection to MP3“.

This menu item lists whatever the current setting is in the importing prefs.

Now, this might not be good for the audio quality, but I don’t really care: I don’t listen to music that carefully. Thanks, Hannah W!

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