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Published on April 7th, 2010

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Quick Hacks

Ever wanted to know how to convert an Audible (aa format) file to mp3 format? The aa format is not supported on very many hardware devices, at least compared to the wide range of support for MP3. Here is a quick way to convert until a nice clean way becomes available.
Download the following programs:

  1. Tunebite ($30)
  2. iTunes (free)
  3. Mega MP3 Splitter (free, optional)
  4. Mp3 Tag Tools (free, optional)

Tunebite is not free, however it is an excellent utility that is well worth the price. So don´t be cheap, drop the $30 and save yourself a Saturday of finding some other utility that doesn´t do the job. Trust me, I already tried. Unless your weekend is worth less than $30, go ahead and surf till you’re blue in the face. :)

STEP 1 – CREATE MP3

Open TuneBite, click the Add button and add your AA file
Next, choose the convert rate then click start. Tunebite will use iTunes to play your aa file and will capture the output in real time, so this is something you will want to set and forget. I usually just fire it up in the morning and the aa file is done when I get home. That is it, your aa file is now in MP3 format.

STEP 2 – SPLIT MP3 (optional)

I don´t like one big mp3 file because if I want to burn it to disk I end up with one massive track, which makes it hard to navigate the audio book. Open up Mega MP3 Splitter and set your input seconds to 1800. This will give you 30 minute tracks. Click the split tracks icon at the bottom of the screen and your MP3 will be split.

STEP 3 – TAG MP3 (optional)

Once you get the files generated, go ahead and tag them. This makes it easier for media players to read the file contents. Open the Mp3 Tag Tool. Point to the directory where the files need to be tagged. Click on the mp3 files that need tag data, hold the CTRL key down selecting every file that needs a tag. Be sure to select the mp3 that actually has tag data last. Then click the “write tags” button. Every file is now tagged.

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