How To
Switch Free Audio and MP3 Converter for Mac
Free audio and mp3 converter to convert audio, music, MP3 and many other formats on Mac
With a plethora of portable music players around and the different type of audio file formats they each play, you're bound to have to convert your tracks every now and then - that's where Switch comes into play.
Switch has the advantage of being free and allowing you to quickly batch convert audio tracks. Note that the free version of Switch only converts to MP3 and some of the functions are limited after 14 days, but the full version converts to more than a dozen, with all the common file types like MP3, WMA or AAC available.
You'll also be able to set the bitrate, once again choosing from more than a dozen options and, more importantly, with a choice of variable or constant bitrate. Switch also features an error protection feature to enhance your recordings.
Switch's toolbox feature is supposed to help you perform any audio task, but all it really does is automatically install extra software from the developer. We suggest using it only if you know precisely what you want to do and are ready to install a new application. Switch also has a feature to add CD album details from the freeDB database. Even though we tried it on a few well known tracks, it didn't work well.
Despite these drawbacks, Switch is a speedy audio converter with many features.
User reviews about Switch
by Anonymous
good stuff.
Works as expected. I've been looking a long time for an easy to use and free m4a-mp3 converter. Finally I found it. It even downloads codecs automatically to succeed with the conversion. Awesome! More
by Nick Mead
@Not Free.
Thanks for the tip. The download has been revised to the free version now and the 14 day limit highlighted.
Pros: -
Cons: - More
by Anonymous
Not free.
It is NOT free. Will not run after 14 days.Could not try because it wanted me to purchase it.I tried several downloads on the Mac from several sites, it always
was paid program.
Pros:
Low rating because of false advertising as Free when not.
Cons:
Not free
False Advertising More
by Anonymous
Works fine so far.
Encoded an FLAC file to 320 kbps Mp3, came out quick and smooth, I hear no data loss and the quality is fabulous. Ran into no problems. I'll recommend it to anyone looking for a solid, free, converter. More
by Anonymous
Switch to something else.
Couldn't get it off the ground. Installed the Intel Mac version; loaded up some flac's to convert to mp3; and after several attempts at dragging and dropping the files into Switch, loading them via the Open File... dialogue, Switch would say that the location could not be found (this was a different volume than the boot drive). Trying again with a flac from the same drive did work.When adding the flac's from another volume, Switch would display "Folder does not exist" under the Extended Information column. Trying to convert the file, that column would then display "The source file could not be found."A much better solution is still to use a script like Fluke to import flac's into iTunes and then let iTunes convert to mp3.
Pros:
I can't think of any.
Cons:
See above. More