[lance6]

Does anyone know how I can edit a song that I imported from a CD? The last song (#11) has a hidden track, so that after 30 seconds of dead air, another song starts to play (not labeled #12). I don't know how to fix it so that I get the song I want added to my iTunes playlist and not the annoying remix-bonus-track-Easter-egg-action. Suggestions?

[TheNewSteve]

You could edit it in iMovie or Garage Band, making it two separate tracks.

[dougster]

Wouldn't QuickTime work also?
-doug
DP 1.25GHz G4 MDD 2GB 2x160Gb HD 22"CD OSX.3.3

[Duke_Thomas]

A simple way you could do it is:
1. Duplicate the song file within the Finder and import the duplicate into iTunes -- the goal is to have two of the same song within iTunes.
2. Get info on both songs and change the "start time" and "stop time" for the songs under the option tab. On the first file, set "stop time" for the real ending time of the real track, and set "start time" for the start of the hidden track.
You get the idea I trust...
This has the disadvantage of having that one song file take up twice as much space. You could also do something similar to my approach by setting the start-stop times on the CD track itself and importing it twice for both intervals. This would not take up twice as much room, but that is a bit more work.
Assuming that this is an AAC or MP3 you're talking about, editing the clip within iMovie then reencoding the resulting track will result in a loss of sound quality. I'm not sure if Quicktime has some lossless method, since editing the track requires Quicktime Pro, which I do not have.

[dcipjr]

Following up on Duke's suggestion, there is a way to get around having two copies of the song.
Here's how to do it in iTunes:
1) Import the whole song as an AIFF file. You can choose this option in the iTunes preference window.
2) Get Info on the song, and set the stop time to the end of the first track.
3) Go into iTunes preferences and set iTunes to import files as AAC (or MP3, whichever you prefer).
4) Select the song in your iTunes library, and choose "Convert Selection to AAC". The first part (up until the stop time) will convert into a new AAC file, and be placed in your library. Rename the new file to the name of the track.
5) Select the original AIFF file, and Get Info on it. Adjust the start and stop times to the beginning and end of the second track.
6) As before, convert the AIFF file to AAC. Name the second track.
7) Finally, select the original AIFF file in your iTunes library, and press the delete key. As long as the file is located with the rest of your iTunes library, iTunes will ask if you'd like that file to be moved to the trash. Click yes, and empty your trash.
That's it. The original track has now been split into two new tracks, playable in iTunes. The original is imported as AIFF, which is uncompressed, to maintain quality. You wouldn't want to import the original track as AAC/MP3--reconverting it to produce the new tracks would work, but the quality of the new tracks would decrease.
The original AIFF file should be deleted, because it will take up a lot of room, typically 10 MB per minute of song.
But that should do the job for you.

[TheNewSteve]

"Assuming that this is an AAC or MP3 you're talking about, editing the clip within iMovie then reencoding the resulting track will result in a loss of sound quality"
Well, he said he has the CD, so he would probably want to do the whole thing in .AIFF, then encode.

[Ren]

Why not simply trim the song with QuickTime??

[dcipjr]

I've found that QuickTime complains and makes you reencode the song when you're finished editing it. It's a pain. I don't think you can just save the file.

[Duke_Thomas]

In reply to:

---

Well, he said he has the CD, so he would probably want to do the whole thing in .AIFF, then encode.

---

Sure. I'm not sure why you'd go through the extra step of importing it as AIFF first though. Just encode the two relevant sections of the track directly from CD.

[lance6]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will try it out and see what happens. I am a little iffy about using QuickTime or iMovie because of quality loss, so I will try using iTunes first and report my findings.

[lance6]

IT WORKED! Man, you folks are good! So I am looking at my iTunes Library (on the Finder), the new split songs (track 11 to tracks 11 and 12) all now have a .mp4, just like the other ten tracks. That's what I want, right?

[dcipjr]

Ohhhhh, yeah, Duke, you're right. Duh. There's no need to encode it as AIFF.
Glad to hear it all worked out.

[lance6]

Okay so next time I do this, there's no need to import it as AIFF, just import songs as AAC, type in the stop time for the first track I want, then do that for the second song, but typing in the start time. Finally, erase the original track, right?

[dcipjr]

Not quite, just adjust the stop/start times on the CD itself, then import the songs...that'll save you the trouble of converting to AIFF.