How Do I Use AACelerator?
Launching the AACelerator application will also launch the QuickTime Player application if it is not already running. AACelerator will bring make itself the foreground application when finished launching.
- Files to be Encoded
Drag-n-drop items from the Finder to the Audio Files & Folders list in the main window or onto the application icon in the dock to add them to the list of files to be encoded. If a particular folder or disk contains non-audio files, AACelerator will ignore them and only encode valid audio files. Any combination of the following can be drop into the Audio Files & Folders list: - Files - select any number of files from the Finder and drop them into the list. Each file will be encoded when you press the Encode AAC button.
- Folders - any number folders can also be dropped into the list. Pressing the Encode AAC button will encode all of the audio files contained in that folder. In addition, all enclosed folders will be processed and the audio files contained those folders will be encoded as well.
- CDs and Disks - drop a CD or disk icon from the desktop into the list and all of the enclosing audio files and folders will be encoded as well.
- Destination for Encoded Files
Click the Destination button to select a folder where you want the MPEG-4 audio files stored. - Encoding Rate
From the Encoding Rate pop-up button, select the encoding rate you would like the QuickTime Player to use when encoding the audio files. A higher encoding rate results in a better sounding file, but also results in a larger encoded audio file. - Creating iTunes and iPod Compatable Files
If you plan to use the encoded files with iTunes 4 and copy them to an iPod, conversion of type/creator codes is now done from within the iTunes 4 application. After the files have been encoded, drop the MPEG-4 files (.mp4) into the main iTunes 4 browser window. Select the files you wish to have synchronized with your iPod and choose make4iPod from the iTunes script menu. The resulting files will be AAC files that appear to have been created with iTunes. - Support for Quicktime Streaming Server
If you plan to stream the resulting files using the QuickTime Streaming Server, select either basic or optimized streaming encoding from the Streaming Options pop-up button. Streaming files are created with the following parameters for both basic and optimized streaming files: - Maximum Packet Size: 1450 bytes
- Maximum Packet Duration: 100 ms
- Setting Up ID3 Tags
If you would like "tags" associated with the encoded audio files, click the ID3 Tags button and enter the album title, artist, year, and comment fields. Full Name or song title tags will be derived from the file name. The same value for each tag will be used for every encoded audio file. Values entered into these fields will override any tags embedded in the source files. If, however, you are using songs which already have embedded tags and want them copied into the new songs, leave the fields in the ID3 Tags drawer empty and AACelerator will copy all the tags from the source material to the encoded file.
A Note About ID3 Tags
While the number of tags supported by AACelerator represents a small number of available ID3 Tags, this is merely a limitation of the scripting environment of the QuickTime Player. However, it should offer sufficient tags to allow you to quickly organize your new collection using iTunes or another MP3 player. - Removing Items From the List
As AACelerator finishes encoding files and folders, their entries in the Audio File & Folders list are removed, indicating successful encoding. If you need to remove a file or folder from the list, select it by clicking on it and press the delete key or click the Delete button. Press the delete key while holding the command key or click the Clear All button to clear the entire list. - Encode
When you've finished configuring the encoding options, press the Encode button to start creating MPEG-4 files from each of the source audio files. As each file or folder is finished encoding, it will be removed from the list. If you encounter an error during the encoding process, you can always remove a problem file and click the Encode button to resume encoding. The application will not respond to mouse clicks during the encoding process. You may even see the spinning beach ball cursor while encoding. This is normal.