Ableton won't recognise iTunes library :-(

smernicki · Post by **smernicki** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:24 pm

Hey

Recently started using ableton, but having a bit of a problem. I use a Mac and all my music is stored in my iTunes library. When I try and access any tracks from ableton it tells me the folder has been deleted?!

Any suggestions?

Thanks

S

SMonk · Post by **SMonk** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:46 pm

Tried simply dragging and dropping the files straight from itunes into live?

smernicki · Post by **smernicki** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:50 pm

no, will give that a try tonight

just drag and drop from the iTunes library to a free audio track in ableton?

Rogue Scrunt · Post by **Rogue Scrunt** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:10 pm

yes, it works a charm

icedsushi · Post by **icedsushi** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:19 pm

Usually if you drag and drop to your set from Live's browser, it's best. That way Live keeps track of where you moved it. If you do it through the finder, Live might not be able to keep track of where you moved it.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:23 pm

Also Ableton won't recognize protected itunes songs (.m4a I think is the extension) if you bought them through the itunes store. You will have to convert them to mp3 which ableton will then convert to wav.

smernicki · Post by **smernicki** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:11 pm

beats me wrote:Also Ableton won't recognize protected itunes songs (.m4a I think is the extension) if you bought them through the itunes store. You will have to convert them to mp3 which ableton will then convert to wav.

that would make sense- all the files, ones i've imported as well as bought, are likely to be .m4a

cheers!

kineticUk · Post by **kineticUk** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:18 pm

beats me wrote:Also Ableton won't recognize protected itunes songs (.m4a I think is the extension)

.m4a are unprotected
.m4p are protected

tc · Post by tc » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:24 pm

yes, protected songs are .m4p, non-protected ones are .m4a.

these both use AAC encoding, which ableton does not support. if you import audio from CDs using the AAC setting, you end up with (non-protected) ableton-incompatible .m4a files, BUT you can actually use iTunes to convert the .m4a songs to .wav or .mp3. you just have to change your import settings to .wav or to .mp3, and then right-click (or Apple equivalent) the song in iTunes and choose "Convert to wav" or "Convert to mp3" as the case may be. at least, you can do that in the windows version.

kineticUk · Post by **kineticUk** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:32 pm

tc wrote:these both use AAC encoding, which ableton does not support.

AAC support was added with Live 6 (Unsupported I think?). And theres also FLAC support (since Version 5?) which is good. If you use .m4a at the moment, you should be able to go into your iTunes Library (using Lives browser) and drag .m4a into a session or drag stuff from finder.