Much as Apple would be thrilled if you populated your iTunes library with iTunes music purchases you probably already have a number of CD’s you would love to add to your iTunes library and iOS device. Here are the steps for turning your discs into digital files.

Step One: Check your iTunes settings

By default, iTunes will import CD tracks using the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) Encoder in a setting called iTunes Plus (256 kbps). Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates. AAC is also the default or standard audio format for iTunes, iPhone, iPod and iPad. The high bit rate setting means it should be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to detect any difference between the original and imported versions.

When importing CD’s iTunes does offer a number of other audio formats, other than AAC. The most popular music format is MP3 and nearly every digital music-playing device uses this format. There are also higher quality file encoders such as Apple Lossless, AIFF or WAV. The Apple Lossless encoder cuts file size approximately in half without losing audio quality. The AIFF and WAV encoders maintain audio files at their original size. Using these encoders a 4-minute track is approximately 40MB.

To change the import settings open iTunes and click on ‘Edit’ on the top menu and then ‘Preferences’… and a pop-up window will appear. In this window, under ‘General’ there will be a drop-down box with the label ‘When you insert a CD:’ next to it. From the drop down box there are a number of options for what to do when you insert a CD into your computer. It is recommended that you select ‘Ask to Import CD’.

To the right of the drop-down box is a button labelled ‘Import Settings…’. Click on button and a new pop-up will appear. In the drop-down labelled ‘Import Using:’ you select the file format you wish to import the CD into. Choose from AAC Encoder, AIFF Encoder, Apple Lossless Encoder, MP3 Encoder, or WAV Encoder.

When you select either AAC Encoder or MP3 Encoder in the Import Using pop-up menu you can choose a different bit rate in the ;Setting; drop-down menu below. When you choose AAC Encoder your preset choices are High Quality (128 kbps), iTunes Plus (256 kbps), or Spoken Podcast (64 kbps). Choose MP3 Encoder and your preset choices are Good Quality (128 kbps), High Quality (160 kbps), and Higher Quality (192 kbps). For each encoder you also have a Custom option. Select it and a new window opens where you can choose from among a variety of bit rates. Again, the higher the bit rate, the better the audio quality and the bigger the file.

Our recommended settings are ‘MP3 Encoder’ and ‘Higher Quality (192 kbps). This format can be used across any digital music-playing device and is of a high quality audio.

Step Two: Insert and select a CD

Ensure that no other music programs are open and then start iTunes. Insert a music CD into your PC or Mac’s CD / DVD drive. iTunes will analyse the CD and will try to recover the track information from its online database.

If the CD’s track names don’t appear it either means that your computer isn’t able to communicate via the Internet (which is how iTunes obtains album, artist, and track names) or the CD is one that’s not recognised by iTunes (a “mix tape” CD a friend has created, for example). For those CDs that don’t have track names automatically added, you can edit the titles and add names manually later.

By default, and if you have previously selected to ‘Ask to Import CD’ a pop-up window will show asking ‘Would you like to import the CD “name of CD” into your iTunes library?’

Click Yes to import all the individual tracks on the CD or No if you’d prefer to import just selected tracks or none of the tracks at all (or do it at another time).

If you click No you can rip just selected tracks, uncheck the tracks that you don’t want to rip and click ‘Import CD’ in the bottom right hand side of the iTunes window.

After selecting No, if you later wish to import the tracks from the CD, select the CD under the ‘Devices’ tab in the left hand menu of iTunes and click ‘Import CD’ in the bottom right hand side of the iTunes window.

iTunes will begin ripping the CD and adding the tracks to the iTunes library.

Step Three: Add Album Artwork

Once the CD has been imported into the iTunes library (must be a recognised CD with album name and track information) you can add the album artwork.

Click on ‘Music’ under the’ Library’ tab in the left hand menu of iTunes. Ensure that you are in grid view by clicking ‘View’ in the top menu and selecting ‘as Grid’.

Scroll down to the album you imported which should show the album artwork as a grey box with a music note in the centre. Double-click in the centre of the artwork to open the album. This should display the grey album artwork box and the album tracks. Click on ‘Advanced’ in the top menu and then ‘Get Album Artwork’. If iTunes recognises the album its artwork will be downloaded and will replace the grey box with the music note inside.

If iTunes does not recognise the album an error message will be displayed. Additional steps will be required to download the artwork. This is covered in another article.

Other Articles of Interest:

Joining CD tracks
Album Artwork