MP3 is one of the most common formats for sharing audio recordings today. MP3 is short for MPEG Layer 3, and MPEG is short for Motion Picture Experts Group, so really you can think of MP3 as an abbreviation of an abbreviation. The MP3 file format makes for very small files - you can easily store a lot of music on a hard drive or CD - and you can easily transfer those files over the Internet. What could be better for your video's soundtrack than a crisp, clear music file that you can easily put on your computer?
You may have some MP3 files already stored on your computer. If so, you can use those MP3 files for background music in your movie projects really easily:
* In iMovie: Pull MP3 files directly from your iTunes library into iMovie. Simply choose iTunes from the pull-down menu at the top of the audio pane.
* In Studio: Choose Album --> Sound Effects to show the sound-effects album. Click the folder icon and browse to the folder on your hard drive that contains the MP3 files you want to use. When a list of MP3 files appears in the album, simply drag and drop the files that you want on the background music track of your timeline.
You may find storing audio on your hard disk handy because you can more easily plop the audio into your movie projects. MP3 is a great format to use because the audio sounds about as good as CD audio, but it takes up a lot less storage space. You may hear the process of turning an audio file into an MP3 file sometimes called ripping or encoding.
Ripping MP3 files on a Mac
Apple has thoughtfully provided the capability to create MP3 files with its free audio-library-and-player program, iTunes (available on both Mac OS X and Windows). To download the latest version of iTunes, visit Apple.com and follow the instructions there.
After you install iTunes on your computer, you can copy audio onto your hard drive in MP3 format quite simply:
1. Insert an audio CD into your CD-ROM drive.
2. If iTunes doesn't launch automatically, open the program using the Dock or your Applications folder.
3. With the iTunes program window active, choose iTunes --> Preferences.
The iTunes Preferences dialog box opens.
4. Click the Importing button at the top of the Preferences dialog box.
5. Make sure that you select the MP3 Encoder in the Import Using menu and then click OK.
The iTunes Preferences dialog box closes, and you return to the main iTunes window.
6. Place check marks next to the songs that you want to import.
You can use the playback controls in the upper-left corner of the iTunes window to preview tracks.
7. Click Import in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window.
The songs import; the process may take several minutes. When it's done, you can access the imported songs through your iTunes library for use in iMovie projects.
Ripping MP3 files in Windows
Microsoft provides a free audio-player program called Windows Media Player - WMP for short. It comes with Windows, and you can download the latest version from WindowsMedia.com. WMP lets you copy music from audio CDs to your hard drive in a high-quality (yet compact) format. Unfortunately, as delivered, WMP does not rip files in MP3 format. Instead, it uses the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format.
Windows Media files are about as small as MP3 files, but it's a proprietary format: Most video-editing programs can't import WMA files directly. If you want to import music from CDs into a Studio movie project, you probably want to copy the music directly from within Studio.
If you really want to be able to copy music onto your PC hard drive in MP3 format, you can use iTunes for Windows - or, you can pick up a commercially available MP3 encoding program. You can find such programs at most electronics stores, and you can also download software from Web sites such as Tucows.
http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/importing-mp3-audio-to-your-digital-video/153346;_ylt=AmqwZXSVo.k1b50AqKdaOnYSLpA5
