How do I import files into AIMP?

What is AIMP?

AIMP is an audio player and music organizer for Windows that aims to provide a user-friendly interface and powerful features for managing and playing audio files (https://www.tonyknowles.com/aimp/). Developed by Russian developer Artem Izmaylov, AIMP gives users control over their music with customizable playlists, library management, music conversion tools, and audio effects and visualization.

Some key features of AIMP include:

Support for common audio formats like MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc.

An interface with multiple skins to choose from
Tools for ripping audio CDs and converting between formats
A 18-band graphic equalizer and a wide range of audio effects

Ability to sync playlists and audio files to portable devices

In summary, if you’re looking for an intuitive yet powerful audio player for Windows that puts lots of control at your fingertips, AIMP aims to deliver just that.

Why Import Files into AIMP?

One of the main reasons to import files into AIMP is to add music files to your AIMP library. By importing your music, you will have a centralized place to manage, play, and organize all your songs. According to AIMP vs Musique detailed comparison as of 2024, “AIMP can play, manage, and filter music stored in the whole computer or specified folders.”

By importing your music files into AIMP, you gain access to helpful library management tools. For example, AIMP can analyze metadata like artist, album, genre, etc. and automatically organize your music collection. You can create playlists, play songs on shuffle, and search for specific tracks. The music library also tracks your playback statistics so you can see your most played artists and songs.

In short, importing your music files into AIMP lets you harness the full power of its robust music management features. Combining all your tracks into one interface allows easier listening, organization, and discovery compared to accessing files scattered across your computer.

Supported File Formats

AIMP supports all common audio file formats, allowing you to import a variety of music and audio files into your library. Some of the key supported formats include:

MP3 – The most popular digital audio format
WMA – Windows Media Audio
WAV – An uncompressed audio format
FLAC – Free Lossless Audio Codec for high quality audio

APE – Monkey’s Audio lossless format
AIFF – Audio Interchange File Format

By supporting these common formats, AIMP provides flexibility and compatibility with many audio files you may already have or obtain from different sources. This allows you to consolidate your music library into one player. According to this article, you can also use a tool to convert Spotify songs to formats AIMP supports.

Importing Music Files

When you first open AIMP, your music library will be empty. To add your music files, there are a few options:

Drag and drop music files directly into the AIMP window. This will automatically add the files to your library.

Use the “Add” command in the Files menu. This opens a file browser where you can navigate to music files or folders on your computer and select them to be imported.
Import entire folders of music files by going to Settings > Library > Folders and specifying the folder locations. AIMP will scan those locations and add any supported music files.

AIMP supports common audio formats like MP3, FLAC, WAV, and more. You can view the full list of supported formats here.

Once your files have been imported, you can view your music organized into Artists, Albums, Genres etc. Using playlists is a great way to customize and arrange your music library within AIMP.

Import from CD

To rip and import music files from an audio CD using AIMP, first insert the CD into your computer’s disk drive. AIMP should automatically detect the CD and display the tracklist in the application interface.

Next, click the “Rip CD” button in the toolbar or go to Tools > Rip CD in the menu. In the CD Ripper window, you can configure the output file format, quality, file naming, output folder, and other advanced settings before starting the rip.

Some key options to configure include:

File Format: Choose a lossless format like FLAC or ALAC, or a lossy format like MP3 or AAC.
Quality: Higher bitrate and sampling rates mean better audio fidelity.

Output Folder: Specify the folder to save the ripped files.

Once the options are set, click the “Rip” button to start ripping the CD to your hard drive. AIMP will extract all the tracks and encode them according to your chosen settings. After ripping is done, the files will be imported into your AIMP music library automatically for playback and management.

Downloading Online Music

One way to add music files to your AIMP library is by downloading songs from websites that host audio content. Many streaming sites like YouTube allow users to download audio files for offline listening. However, downloading copyrighted songs without permission could violate terms of service.

A safer option is to use browser extensions that capture audio from sites like YouTube legally. Extensions like VideoDownloadHelper for Firefox and Chrome allow you to record and save audio from videos you stream in your browser. The resulting files can then be imported into your AIMP media library.

To use VideoDownloadHelper for downloading online music:

Install the extension in your browser

Go to a site like YouTube and play a video with music
Click the VideoDownloadHelper icon to capture just the audio
Save the audio file to your computer

Import the downloaded file into your AIMP library

This method allows you to legally obtain audio content for personal use in AIMP. Be sure to review any site’s terms of service before downloading media.

Converting File Formats

AIMP includes a built-in converter tool for changing between different audio file formats like MP3 and WAV. To use the converter, go to “Tools > Audio Converter”. You can then add files and select the output format from supported formats including MP3, AAC, and WAV (Main features and Functions). The conversion supports multi-threaded encoding for fast performance.

Some key things to note about the AIMP audio converter:

It supports batch conversion, allowing you to queue up multiple files to convert at once
You can choose from various quality presets for formats like MP3

It works as a standalone program so you don’t need to have AIMP open to use it
The conversion is quick, taking just seconds to minutes depending on file size

Overall the built-in converter provides an easy way to change audio formats without needing separate software. Just add files, select the output format, and convert.

Organizing Your Library

AIMP provides powerful tools to help you organize your music library. You can create playlists to group together songs based on genre, mood, artist or any other criteria. Playlists allow you to queue up music without having to browse your whole library.

You can also sort your library by various criteria like artist, album, song title and more. Click on any column header to sort the music. To sort by multiple columns, hold the CTRL key while clicking (source).

Tagging is another great way to organize your files. You can edit ID3 tags like title, artist, album, track number, cover art and more. Complete tagging makes it easier to identify and sort songs.

AIMP’s library tools help you arrange your music precisely how you like. Playlists let you create custom track listings. Sorting orders songs based on tag criteria. Tagging correctly identifies each file. Together these features give you complete control to organize your music library.

Syncing with Portable Devices

With AIMP you can sync your music library and playlists to portable devices like phones and MP3 players. This allows you to take your music collection with you on the go.

To sync with a phone, connect your phone to your computer via USB and open the AIMP app. Go to Tools > Synchronize Device. Select your phone and choose to sync the entire library or only specific playlists. Click Synchronize to transfer the files. https://www.aimp.ru/forum/index.php?topic=68710.0

For MP3 players and other portable devices, connect the device via USB then go to Tools > Synchronize Device. Choose your device, select sync options like playlists or auto-sync, and click Synchronize. This will transfer music and playlists to the MP3 player. https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/need-an-android-pc-music-manager-with-playlist-syncing.1403771/

Syncing with portable devices allows you to enjoy your AIMP music library anywhere and keep all your devices up-to-date.

Troubleshooting Tips

If you encounter any issues importing files into AIMP, here are some troubleshooting tips to help resolve common problems:

Files Not Importing

If your files are not importing at all into AIMP, first check that the file types are supported. AIMP supports common formats like MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, AAC, and more. If the files are an unsupported format, you’ll need to convert them to a compatible format first using a converting tool.

Also ensure you are using the proper import method for the file source – for example, use “Import from Folder” for files stored locally on your computer, versus the CD ripping tool for importing tracks from a CD.

Try resetting AIMP to default settings in case any corrupted preferences are preventing importing. You can also try reinstalling AIMP entirely if issues persist.

Error Importing CDs

If you get errors trying to rip music CDs, first ensure the CD drive is clean and the CD itself is not damaged or scratched. Try ripping the CD with a different program like Windows Media Player to rule out any drive errors.

In AIMP, adjust the CD ripping quality settings and disable any file pre-processing options that may be causing conflicts. As a last resort, update to the latest version of AIMP if it is a known bug.

Missing Tracks in Library

If some tracks or albums go missing from your AIMP library, the database file may have been corrupted. Go to the AIMP settings and click “Reset Database” to recreate the library file – this should re-index all your imported files.

You can also try rescanning folders in your AIMP library to manually re-add any missing tracks.