Hi Anouk,
If you're checking your music library en masse, in iTunes you can use
a smart playlist to find all entries with a specified bit rate or
range of bit rates. Or you could simply change your view options so
that bit rate is one of the displayed options for your tracks. To add
bit rate to your displayed options in iTunes, use the Command-J
shortcut to bring up View Options, then check the box for "Bit Rate".
You can also find "View Options" under the "View" menu of the iTunes
menu bar if you forget the shortcut: just use VO-M, press "V" to go to
the "View" menu and arrow down. The bit rate will show up as one of
the columns for each track in the songs table. To make a smart
playlist, use the Command-Option-N shortcut for "New Smart Playlist",
or find this option under the "File" menu on the iTunes menu bar. In
the smart playlist dialogue window VO-Right Arrow to the rules section
and interact. VO-space on the first pop up button and press "b" and
then press return to change it to "Bit Rate". You can either type in
a bit rate in the text box or VO-Left arrow to change the pop up
button from "is" to another value by pressing the button with VO-Space
and arrowing down to another selection (e.g. "is not", "is greater
than", "is less than", "is in the range"). VO-Right arrow to type in
the appropriate text. You now have a rule like:
<Bit Rate> <is in the range> 160 <to> 192 <kbits/sec>
where you set the pop up buttons for "Bit Rate" and "in the range",
and typed in the rate values in the text boxes.
You can also apply additional rules if, for example, you want to see
how your library's music quality changed over time. VO-Right arrow to
the end of the first rule and press (VO-Space) the "Add" button. A
second rule line will be added, and you'll be placed at the first pop
up button, which you now want to press (VO-Space) and change from "Bit
Rate" to "Date Added" by pressing "d" and then return. (As with most
menus, selections can be changed either by using your arrow keys or by
typing the first few letters of the entry you want.) Again, you'll be
in the text box, and if you VO-Left arrow you'll hear the pop up
button for "is" and if you VO-Right arrow the text box will be
announced with a default value (today's date). You can change the pop
up button from "is" to look for a range of dates, but you can also set
this to "is in the last" or "is not in the last", and you'll get a pop
up button you can set for "days", "weeks", or "months", and a text
box, so that your second rule might look like:
<Date Added> <is in the last> 6 <months>
where you set the pop up buttons for "Date Added", "is in the last",
and "months", and typed in "6" in the text box.
When you've finished adding rules, stop interacting, and then navigate
to the "OK" button and press it (VO-Space). (I'm sloppy about this,
and I simply press return to commit the changes and exit the dialogue,
and I press escape if I want to cancel. This lets me exit as soon as
I type my rules, if I don't want to stop interacting or change any of
the other features in the smart playlist dialogue -- such as limiting
the playlist by size, playing time, or number of items. If you
haven't explored the dialogue window you should navigate and read
through the other items.)
Another thing that's useful when you select playlists is to VO-Down
Arrow from the songs table to the status line that gives a summary of
number of items, total time, and total file size. You can use VO-Space
to toggle the time reporting to rounded format. (If you have several
days of play time in your playlist, you don't really want to know the
total play time in hours, minutes, and seconds!)
I use smart playlists for temporary checks like this and then delete
them. It's also pretty simple to move back to the smart playlist in
the sources table and edit it (VO-Shift-M for the context menu, press
"E" for "Edit Smart Playlist" and return). Just change the pop up
button on the second rule from "is in the last" to "is not in the
last" and you'll see how your bit rate stats differed for music added
before the last six months.
For more details on working with smart playlists, see the archived
post on "Introduction to Smart Playlists in iTunes" at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries%40googlegroups.com/msg01294.html
That doesn't include the new features of more flexible rule
combinations by using the "Group" button at the end of each rule.
That button essential lets you apply your rules to a subset of your
selected library.
HTH
Cheers,
Esther
anouk radix wrote:
Hello, Thanks for that, i think I found the information i needed at
the statistics page. I did not know about this command.
Thanks,
Greetings, Anouk,
On Mar 20, 2010, at 10:17 PM, James & Nash wrote:
Hi Anouk,
On 20 Mar 2010, at 21:08, anouk radix wrote:
Hello, I would like to check the quality of my music library. How
can I check the bitrate of an mp3 file on mac os x? I dont see it
in either itunes or vlc and I do not want to start my windows vm
every time i get a new item to check it in foobar.
Try Command I on the file you want to check. You might find the
info you want there.
TC
James Lyn, Nash & Twinny
Hello, I would like to check the quality of my music library. How
can I check the bitrate of an mp3 file on mac os x? I dont see it
in either itunes or vlc and I do not want to start my windows vm
every time i get a new item to check it in foobar.
Thanks in advance,
Gretings, Anouk,
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