[iTunes] Re: Best way to re-capture into AAC?

[Adam Bass]

On Monday, April 28, 2003, at 03:40PM, Jeremy Kezer <itunes at kezer.net> wrote:

>>We're all back at square one on that score. Bummer.
>
>One thing I'd tried way back was to re-capture MP3 files at a higher 
>compression rate to another drive, then replace the old files at the 
>Finder level.  That did preserve the information.  But those files 
>had identical names.  Somehow I don't think the same technique will 
>work for the AAC files...

No, it probably wouldn't because AAC files have a new file extension (.m4c), so they would not have identical file names to mp3s in the Finder. However, I believe the tags are stored in the iTunes 4 library file, (this file is usually around 1.4 megs), not the individual song files. If you rip songs again in iTunes, iTunes will just create a new song in the Library file without any tags. However, if you put the new songs in the same iTunes music folder with the same song name, and delete the old MP3s in the Finder, then the MP3s won't be deleted in iTunes. Try to play them, and it will say it cannot find the original MP3, so choose to locate the correct file, and then choose the new files in the Finder. This may keep the original tags that are in the iTunes Library file, and not create new tags for the new file. I'm not at home right now to see if this works, but it has a slight chance of working. Worth a try. :)