Discrepancies in duration on iTunes

[triviasue]

I'll be interested to know if anyone has had this problem and/or any suggestions on how to correct it-

When episodes of my podcast are downloaded in iTunes, the duration is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than the actual duration of the mp3. This causes several problems: shows get cut off, the mp3 starts in a different place after being paused, and my head hurts.

Here is what I am doing:

1. Recording and editing the show in Audacity for Windows at 44. 100 hz

2. Exporting to mp3 with Audacity using LAME DLL Encoder 3.97

3. Editing the ID3 tags with either Media Monkey or iTunes.

4. Uploading to Libsyn, making sure to specify the exact duration under "Additional Options" on the Publish page.

If anyone has a similar process and has experienced this, please let me know if anything can be done to prevent it. I've talked to a few podcasters who also use Audacity, LAME, and Libsyn, and none have had this issue.

Thanks for any advice! :)

[triviasue]

No one has replied, but the good folks at Libsyn helped me resolve the issue. I'll explain it here in case anyone else encounters this problem.

After I export the file as mp3 in Audacity, I have to convert it to either mp3 or AAC in iTunes, and I no longer have the duration issues. :)

This may be common knowledge to some, but it wasn't to me, and so I hope this may help others out there who have had this issue.

[Yotto]

I had never had an issue similar to yours, so had no input, however if you're making the audio file an MP3 in iTunes I'd suggest exporting to WAV from Audacity. I don't know how iTunes works, but I'd bet that converting an mp3 to another mp3 degrades the quality. If you start with a WAV file you'll only degrade the quality once (and once is the smallest number of times you can get and have decent file sizes).

No one has replied, but the good folks at Libsyn helped me resolve the issue. I'll explain it here in case anyone else encounters this problem.

After I export the file as mp3 in Audacity, I have to convert it to either mp3 or AAC in iTunes, and I no longer have the duration issues. :)

This may be common knowledge to some, but it wasn't to me, and so I hope this may help others out there who have had this issue.

[triviasue]

I had never had an issue similar to yours, so had no input, however if you're making the audio file an MP3 in iTunes I'd suggest exporting to WAV from Audacity. I don't know how iTunes works, but I'd bet that converting an mp3 to another mp3 degrades the quality. If you start with a WAV file you'll only degrade the quality once (and once is the smallest number of times you can get and have decent file sizes).

Thanks, Yotto. That makes a lot of sense, and I'll try that instead. Seems obvious in hindsight!