iTunes and converting mp3 to ACC

[macunkie]

I have a somewhat large collection of audio in my iTunes Library. A little over 4000 tunes (17+gbs). Alot of these files are in mp3 format. I know iTunes can convert these to ACC, but the problem is that it duplicates the mp3 file into an acc. Does anybody know of a way to get iTunes NOT to leave the original mp3 after conversion? Is there any command line utilities out there that will convert my entire library?

Thanks,

[Aptmunich]

Generally speaking cross-conversion is a bad idea:

You are taking one lossy codec and running another one over it, which will result in slightly smaller file sizes but much worse audio degradation.

I'd either re-rip the entire library or leave it as it is, unless you specifically NEED the files in aac format.

[macunkie]

Generally speaking cross-conversion is a bad idea:

You are taking one lossy codec and running another one over it, which will result in slightly smaller file sizes but much worse audio degradation.

I'd either re-rip the entire library or leave it as it is, unless you specifically NEED the files in aac format.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that cross-conversion would result in audio degradation. I'll just leave them alone and for future rips import as acc.

Thanks again!

[BlindingLights]

yeah, or if you're that concerned about hd space, get an external hard drive. I have a HUGE music library (something like 25 gigs?) and I'm only through "D" in my CD collection. I mean, I have like 12.5 gigs of U2 alone, but thank god my iMac has a 160 gig hard drive.

[macunkie]

yeah, or if you're that concerned about hd space, get an external hard drive. I have a HUGE music library (something like 25 gigs?) and I'm only through "D" in my CD collection. I mean, I have like 12.5 gigs of U2 alone, but thank god my iMac has a 160 gig hard drive.

Thank you. It's not so much a "space" thing as it is a "audio quality thing" I am more concerned with. I have my current 17 gigs of audio being served and stored from my G4 PowerMac on a "audio" partion. I have an exact copy of the 17 gigs on and external Firewire 400 drive that I backup to as I add to my iTunes library. I use a simple rysnc script that I run from my terminal. I simply issue the command, : sudo itunesbackup and it auto copies and deletes, (updates) to my Firewire. I'm just going to stick to acc formatt for future imports in the future.