[G4] MP3 Question

[Alex]

On Tuesday, Mar 30, 2004, at 11:48 Canada/Eastern, Tim LaCroix wrote:

> Hey, I have a question about the best way to rip a CD to Mp3 on the 
> mac, I have ITunes, but that format is not supported by my mp3 player, 
> is there any good free program out there?

What OS version? What iTunes version? What MP3 player?

By default, the current version of iTunes encodes with AAC, a later 
codec which achieves the same quality at a smaller size. However, it 
can still encode in MP3. Check your prefs, under Importing. Also, check 
your MP3 player manual. Your player may expect AAC-encoded files to 
have the filename extension .m4a, instead of .aac.

> One thing I am noticing about my experiences with my Mac is that many 
> things I could do on a PC for free are now costing me money, it's 
> kinda annoying.

It's the difference between being one of the 90% majority, or one of 
the 5% minority. Tough luck.

But keep in mind that there are various open-source Unix-based 
utilities now ported to the Mac OS X. While it may take a little 
fiddling to get them working to your requirements, the results are 
usually just as good as (if not better than) what you get on Windows. 
However, because of the realities of the market, there will always be 
specialized apps on Win which have no equivalent on the Mac. Such a one 
is Exact Audio Copy (if you're a purist as far as CD ripping goes).

f