Baby Mac wrote ...


1. Using the PLUS SIGN icon on the bottom left side of the iTunes window - make a PLAYLIST, click on it and change it's name to AA MP3 CD (the AA just ensures it is near the top of the screen)

2. Go to the FILE menu and select NEW SMART PLAYLIST. Call it MP3 Files (or what you like really).

3. Click menu over the new smart playlist icon and select EDIT SMART PLAYLIST.

4. Change the pull down menu item to KIND, you want CONTAINS in the second box and then in the third write MPEG audio file. (This is what iTunes calls MP3 files). Write it exactly like that, case for case.

5. Go to the PREFERENCES menu and select IMPORT SETTINGS. Change the setting to MP3 ENCODER. (Do not forget to change it back to AAC once this is done or else you will import your CD's into iTunes as MP3 files. This you can always do anyway if you do not want your CD's to be converted to AAC or MP4a). Of course if you have downloaded from the iTunes Store then the music will be in AAC format)

6. Now, start highlighting the albums or files you want to import in your main music library and drag the selections to the playlist called AA MP3 CD. Either singly or use CTRL A (Windows), CMD A (MAC) to select all in a window or click and select the top file and 'shift click' the bottom file.

7. Once you have got about 120 songs in. In the playlist AA MP3 CD, HIGHLIGHT ALL the songs. Go to the ADVANCED menu and select CREATE MP3 VERSION. They will now all be automatically created in the library as you have now got a duplicate of your songs, one set as AAC, one set as MP3. Go to the MP3 Files smart playlist, highlight the MP3 files.

8. Put your new CD in the computer so iTunes can 'see' it.

9. Hit the BURN DISC icon at the bottom right of the iTunes window and in the dialog box select MP3 CD. Then hit BURN.

10. Once the CD is burned, hit the EJECT icon in iTunes beside the new CD icon. You now have an MP3 CD.

11. Now go to your main music library window, click on the column title KIND. Your files will be sorted in MPEG audio files, Apple Lossless and AAC audio files. Highlight the MPEG audio files that you created. Click MENU over the top of the highlighted files and select DELETE. This will now delete the duplicated files from your AAC iTunes main library. If your library is already in MP3 format you will not need to do this.

12. Go back to your preferences and change the import settings back to AAC.

13. You can also go to the AA MP3 CD playlist, select all and delete (these are temporary files and are effectively 'copies' of your main library) Your empty playlist is now ready for your next AAC selection from the main library)

14. I have just done this with 107 songs, as I have been writing this, that is 7 albums and it has taken up 608.5 MB's on a 700 MB CD-R. So about 120 songs is about right but you can play around with that.

PS, I have not tried this on a WINDOWS version of iTunes but I am assuming the software is exactly the same on both platforms.

Baby Mac