Change encoding with iTunes - possible?

I bought my wife a 1st gen Nano for her birthday last year. Being that it's her first - and not knowing how much (if any) use she would get out of it, I opted for the cheaper 2GB model.

As it turns out - she loves it (go figure, she's usually not one for gadgets of any kind).

The problem she's having now is (of course) the space. When I bought her the iPod, I figured out how many CDs she has and though 2GB would be plenty, given Apple's claim of 500 song capacity. I know this is just an estimate, and being that I have iTunes set to rip at 320kbps and it's holding nearly 400 songs currently, I think it's done pretty well.

Anyway, she's bought a ton of music off the iTunes store and is now at capacity (and is somewhat unhappy with me that I cheaped out on the 2GB). So, I'm wondering if there's an easy way to re-encode the existing library of MP3s using iTunes. I'd like to degrade them to 128kbps or possibly lower if it yields significantly more space.

By the way, my wife uses her Windows laptop for iTunes (she's happy with Windows, so there's no sense buying another laptop yet).

Any thoughts or tips on how to reclaim space? Sound quality is not a big issue for her, she couldn't tell the difference between a cassette and a CD.

You know what - nevermind. I've been looking for an excuse to buy a new 30GB Video iPod. I'm just going to give her my old 20GB 4th gen and go with a new one.

Problem solved. Mods - you can delete this thread.

You can change the encoding quality by changing the quality settings in iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing. Reselecting the songs that are at 320, right clicking and hitting Convert to MP3 (Or AAC whatever you use) will reencode them to the lower rates

trpnmonkey41 said:

You can change the encoding quality by changing the quality settings in iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing. Reselecting the songs that are at 320, right clicking and hitting Convert to MP3 (Or AAC whatever you use) will reencode them to the lower rates

Click to expand...

Awesome - I knew there had to be an easy way. Thanks a lot.