Converting your music to MP3
The MusicBox can read one format only: MP3. A file in M4A, FLAC, WAV or OGG will upload without an error and then fail to play.
Convert it before sending it. Several free tools do this, and you only need one of them.
- 01
Which setting to pick
192 kbit/s is a good trade for stories and songs played on a small speaker: the difference against a higher bitrate is inaudible, and you store twice as much.
If your files come from a disc you bought, start from the original rather than an already compressed version. Compressing twice degrades the sound and gains nothing.
- 02
VLC, free on all three systems
This is the shortest route if you only want to install one thing. VLC is free, ad-free, and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.
Media menu, then Convert or Save, add your files, pick the Audio MP3 profile and a destination folder.
- 03
On Mac, with nothing to install
The Music app is already there and can do it. In its settings, Files tab, click Import Settings and choose the MP3 encoder, custom quality, 192 kbit/s.
Then select your tracks and use File, Convert, Create MP3 Version. The converted files appear next to the originals, which are left alone.
- 04
On Windows, a dedicated alternative
fre:ac is a free converter that does only this, and handles a batch of files in one go. More comfortable than VLC if you have a lot to convert.
- 05
On Linux
SoundConverter is free, sits in most distributions' software centre, and converts a whole folder by dragging it in.
- 06
From the command line, on all three
ffmpeg is free and does the same thing everywhere. It is the tool for large batches.
The first command converts one file, the second a whole folder at once.
ffmpeg -i story.m4a -codec:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k story.mp3 for f in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -codec:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k "${f%.m4a}.mp3" done
Stuck somewhere?
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