Decent mp3 compressing software for Mac
 

I used to have a rather good compression software on my old PC but can't remember what it was. Anyone know good freeware for compressing mp3s? Doesn't need to be much, just to get a 11.3MB mp3 file below 10MB so I can send it by Yahoo Mail.

Thanks.
Fraser :)

iTunes can do that. You may have to fiddle with the Import Preferences to get it exactly the size you want.

After you change the settings:
-Add the file to iTunes.
-Control Click / Right Click and select "Convert Selection to MP3"

Thanks Tummy, although the file is already an mp3. When I follow your instructions it says 'Convert to AAC'. I'd prefer to keep it as a Windows Media Player friendly file for my folks.

I don't think you read my post.

Did you change the settings? You have to change the settings to MP3 first.

iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > Importing
Import using: MP3 Encoder

After you change the settings:
-Add the file to iTunes.
-Control Click / Right Click and select "Convert Selection to MP3"

Oopsie...just a misunderstanding! Worked perfect and very easy! Thanks ^^

Another good application is Amadeus. It can re-encode mp3s as smaller files (lower quality) as well as change about a zillion other formats into mp3 for you. Not as visually attractive as iTunes, but more feature rich for re-encoding.

Hi Fraser, I agree that Amadeus II is good but the thing I've been using quite regularly is Audio Hijack Pro which essentially records whatever you playback on your Mac (either computer-wide or app-specific). Once you hijack your output you can apply a large number of Soundtrack Pro or Logic-like filters which can really juice the output quality of an MP3, allowing for a final tweak in iTunes or Amadeus (or Compressor if you have it). Oh yeah and you've gone ahead and bought the SRS iWOW for iTunes to improve output definition and focus -- rrright??? (well worth it...)

Cheers ;)

Keep in mind that what you're doing is reducing the quality of the MP3 file (i.e. changing the sampling from 192KB to128KB, for instance), not compressing the original quality file. MP3 files are already very compressed, you cannot Zip or otherwise compress them more than a couple of percent without reducing the quality level.

Bob

When I'm in a similar situation (unable to compress a file further for sending by email) I usually split the file into two or more parts. The advantage of doing so in this case is that the original quality of the mp3 is kept, but it will require some additional work on the person receiving the file to combine the parts together. This might be done by executing a batch file created by the file splitting program, or using the file splitting program itself to rejoin the parts. (Or perhaps do it through the Copy /b command)
HJSplit (http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/) is one program that might do the job. The homepage says that the Java version'll work on the Mac, but I haven't tried it out yet... (I do my splitting on a PC)