Files sounds Garbled opened with Audacity, fine in itunes?

[Michael415]

Well title about covers it, when I try and open a file to edit it to create a Ringtone the entire file is garbled and shortened to about 1 sec or so. But when I open the same file in itunes its totally fine. Any ideas? These are songs I ripped myself, not purchased from the istore.

[kozikowski]

That happens when Audacity tries to play a sound file it doesn't really know about. But it tries anyway. What kind of sound was it after the rip?

Kozl

[alatham]

Audacity can't open AAC files (aka .m4a or .mp4).

[Michael415]

Thanks for the info. I somewhat stumbled on this today as the probable issue.
I appreciate your reply!

Any suggestion on another free audio software that will let me edit an AAC encoded file?

[alatham]

Any suggestion on another free audio software that will let me edit an AAC encoded file?

None that I know of. I did find a piece of software that I was able to use to convert all of my old AAC files to mp3, but I can't remember the name at the moment.

[waxcylinder]

Michael,

iTunes should be able to do that for you - copied below is a page from the iTunes Help ......

Alternatively you could play it in iTunes and record it in Audacity - this is the long way round if you have a lot of files to convert. For songs purchased from iTunes, the 128 DRM ones, though you will have to do it this way.

WC

Saving a copy of a song in a new file format
You can convert a song to a different file format while keeping a copy of the original. For example, you can save a copy of a compressed song file such as MP3 or AAC in an uncompressed song format (AIFF or WAV).

When converting from a compressed to uncompressed file format (for example, from MP3 to AIFF), you shouldn't notice any reduction in sound quality. However, when converting between compressed formats (for example, MP3 and AAC), you may notice a reduction in the sound quality. For the best results, if you want your music encoded in a different file format, import the music again from the original source using the new encoding format.

Important: Except for iTunes Plus songs, you can’t convert iTunes Store purchases.

To convert a song's file format:
Choose Edit > Preferences, click Advanced, and then click Importing.

In the Import Using pop-up menu, choose the format you want to convert the song to, and then click OK to save the settings.

Select one or more songs in your library, and then choose Advanced > “Convert Selection to....”

To convert all the songs in a folder or on a disk, hold down the Shift key and choose Advanced > “Convert Selection to,” then choose the folder or disk containing the songs you want to convert.

The song in its original format and the newly converted song appear in your library.