compress voice memos itunes

February 13, 2012 12:31 PM

I've got some long voice memos recorded on iPhone, transferred to iTunes. I'm wanting to send them, but the files need to be smaller. What's the easiest way to do this, either in iTunes or some other method?
posted by dearleader to computers & internet (4 answers total)

On a Mac, you could drag them into GarageBand and then export them at a lower bit rate. I imagine they're already at a pretty low bit rate, so I'm not sure how significant the size savings would be.
posted by BurntHombre at 12:47 PM on February 13, 2012

You could copy them to DropBox, share the folder, and send the person a link. (Insert XKCD joke here.)
posted by davextreme at 12:49 PM on February 13, 2012

Seconding the DropBox idea, it's the simplest possible way. Beyond that you're looking at downsampling a la GarageBand or Max. Not as easy, may require some reading.

This is how I would do it.

1. If the file is stereo, convert it to mono. GaragBand should be able to do this.
2. Load in Max, select .mp3 or whatever audio component you want to use.
3. Select 64kbps bit rate for good compression to quality ratio.

This guide might help.

Alternatively, if privacy isn't a huge concern* and you could get them to a DropBox account but still need them to be smaller feel free to memail me and I could do this for you.

*not that I even want to listen to your long voicemails!
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:03 PM on February 13, 2012

Here's a tutorial on how to convert the voice memo to mp3. You can select a lower bitrate and it will make a smaller file.
posted by OmieWise at 1:13 PM on February 13, 2012