I need to convert some (200+ ish) .m4a files

[JethroUK]

I need to convert some (200+ ish) .m4a files (talking books) to either .wma or .mp3 (to play in my car CD)

i tried a sample to mp3 @128 kb which ended up almost twice as big
i also tried wma @ 96 kb which ended up about same size
eventually tried wma @ 48 kb which compressed to around 75% of original .m4a

i don't even know what a .m4a is so i'm looking for guidance in optimum convertion (without throwing too much quality out the window)

[neilthecellist]

Re: I need to convert some (200+ ish) .m4a files

I need to convert some (200+ ish) .m4a files (talking books) to either .wma or .mp3 (to play in my car CD)

You mean audio books? (Forgive me if it's just a UK-grammar issue, I live in the United States)

.m4a is a type of audio codec that's commonly used today, along with other codecs out there such as the popular mp3.

I see that you are trying to get your m4a files into mp3 (or wma) files so that you can play them in your car. This is possible (keep reading!).

First of all, find out what bitrate your m4a files are currently at. To do this, open up the media player you use on your computer (probably iTunes or Winamp) and look at what the bitrate is. Then, when you convert your 200+ m4a files, make sure you convert to the same bitrate that your m4a files are in. This is so you can maintain the same (or possibly smaller) file size, which is what you're looking for.

Hope this helps.

If there are things in my reply that don't make sense, feel free to reply back on this thread and I'll come back to clarify anything if necessary.

[LtData]

Re: I need to convert some (200+ ish) .m4a files

If yrou files are just talking audio, then a low bitrate is perfectly acceptable. As long as there is not much background noise, an mp3 at 64kbps should sound fine.