Large MP3 -> AIFF - What Tool to Use?

[~Shard~]

I have a relatively simple question. I usually use good old Sound Studio to do my audio editing. I'll take MP3s, import them via QuickTime into Sound Studio, then edit them and save them as AIFFs. Works great for me!

However, I have come across a 340 MB MP3 file (it's a 4-hour live show, in case anyone is curious!) and it appears to be too large to open in Sound Studio. I even grabbed a MP3->AIFF converter, converted it into a HUGE AIFF, then tried opening the AIFF itself in SoundStudio (thinking the importing may be what was screwing it up), but that failed as well. It appears that Sound Studio simply cannot handle files that large - which is completely understandable.

So, I'm wondering what Pro app, or whatever, would actually be able to handle this large MP3 so I can open it up, edit it and save it as an AIFF (or WAV) file.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[adamjay]

Bias Peak 4.0 can do what you want. the more ram you have the better for work like that.

otherwise , check www.macupdate.com or tucows.com and maybe you can find a shareware/freeware that will do the conversion. but i know Peak 4 can, but it usually runs $500.

 

[Sparky's]

There maybe an insufficient amount of RAM to open the file. In Photoshop I have always known (taught many years ago) to triple the size of the file to estimate the amount of RAM needed to work with the file. Do you have a gb of RAM available?

 

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by adamjay
Bias Peak 4.0 can do what you want. the more ram you have the better for work like that.

otherwise , check www.macupdate.com or tucows.com and maybe you can find a shareware/freeware that will do the conversion. but i know Peak 4 can, but it usually runs $500.

Yah, I found freeware that converts MP3 -> AIFF, however whether it's MP3 or AIFF, the file won't open in Sound Studio. So I should have been a bit mroe clear I guess and said I need something to either open my 340 MB MP3 file, or my 2.3 GB (or whatever it would be!) AIFF file.

But thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely think about Bias Peak.

 

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by Sparky's
There maybe an insufficient amount of RAM to open the file. In Photoshop I have always known (taught many years ago) to triple the size of the file to estimate the amount of RAM needed to work with the file. Do you have a gb of RAM available?

Hmm, good call, I never thought of that. I "only" have 512 MB, but will be upgrading to 1 GB soon, so perhaps that would help. I just assumed it was probably a limitation of the software, since Sound Studio is by no means a Pro app (yet does quite a good job with all the editing and remastering I need it to!)

So, I'll try grabbing Bias Peak if I can, and I'll look forward to my RAM upgrade next month - hopefully that'll fix the problem!

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it!

 

[Horrortaxi]

Have you tried iTunes? I've never converted anything that big but I don't know why it wouldn't do it.

Off topic--why are you going from mp3 to aiff? Is it just so you can edit them?

 

[Megaquad]

Choose File > Import via Quicktime, you should be able to open any file that way.

 

[JamesDPS]

I would say it's a RAM issue (as many have postulated). The other thing to think about: does the file necessarily have to be one continuous file? If you're able to open the mp3 even in Quicktime Player, you could copy and paste sections of it into Sound Studio (maybe need Quicktime Pro?) and convert it a section at a time. It could always be reassembled later, probably, if that became necessary.

As already pointed out, Peak is perfect for this kind of thing, but with a fairly hefty pricetag (and using Acquisition would be just plain illegal... )

 

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by Horrortaxi
Have you tried iTunes? I've never converted anything that big but I don't know why it wouldn't do it.

Off topic--why are you going from mp3 to aiff? Is it just so you can edit them?

Hmm, I only use iTunes to play music, so what exactly would I have to do to edit it in iTunes? I can import it just fine to listen to it, but then from there how would I edit it?

 

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by Megaquad
Choose File > Import via Quicktime, you should be able to open any file that way.

Nope, tried it, craps out. Even when I use a 3rd party converter to convfert it to AIFF (which it does fine), Sound Studio won't even open the raw AIFF afterwards.

 

[~Shard~]

Originally posted by JamesDPS
... does the file necessarily have to be one continuous file? If you're able to open the mp3 even in Quicktime Player, you could copy and paste sections of it into Sound Studio (maybe need Quicktime Pro?) and convert it a section at a time. It could always be reassembled later, probably, if that became necessary.

No, it definitely doesn't. In fact, I usually convert them to AIFF to 1) edit them, but 2) sometimes burn them to audio CDs right away, in which case it's nice to have it as an AIFF/WAV. So I can definitely import, let's say, an hour at a time, to break up the file, however I don't know anyway of doing this - will QuickTime Pro let me chop up an MP3 like this?

Thanks again for all the feedback guys!

 

[Rincewind42]

Sorry but your outta luck. AIFF only supports files up to 2GB in size - since you say it produced a 2.3GB "AIFF" file it is likely that it is invalid (All the length specifiers in AIFF are signed 32-bit integers). So your going to have to cut that MP3 file into pieces first and then convert the pieces to AIFF.

And yes, you can use QTPro to cut the MP3 (and if your going to use it you might as well use it to export the AIFF files too)

 

[Horrortaxi]

Originally posted by ~Shard~
Hmm, I only use iTunes to play music, so what exactly would I have to do to edit it in iTunes? I can import it just fine to listen to it, but then from there how would I edit it?

Go to iTunes preferences and change encoding to AIFF, if it is't already set to that. Import your file, select it, then go to the 'Advanced' menu and select "convert selection to aiff".