Use the Attach button in the mail window (it looks like a paper clip) to locate and attach the photos. Be sure to turn on the Windows friendly check box. OR
Compress all the photos into one archive (using the Finder’s Compress command) and then send that file via e-mail.

Either way, I believe the photos will be savable on the Windows PC.

Thanks for the info. I had heard that .m4a has better sound quality than .mp3. But the problem is a legacy issue: many people have older players that don’t play .m4a. For instance, I have an Olympus that only plays .mp3 and .wma, and it’s working fine. So I’ll pursue the software conversion idea.

First, from AnswerBag (http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/313850):

Many people have questions about M4A, since it is relatively new. M4A stands for MPEG 4 Audio, and it is a popular file extension used to represent audio files. Most people are familiar with MP3 and how it shrinks down the file size of songs and other audio files. M4A and MP4 do the same thing as MP3 does, but even better. Quality is better and file sizes are usually smaller than MP3 files. But unlike MP3, no licenses or payments are required to be able to stream or distribute content in M4A format (unlike MP3 which requires you to pay royalties on content you distribute in MP3 format). This fact alone, is more than enough reason (due to the extreme cost savings) to use M4A files instead of MP3 files. In addition, M4A files tend to sound much better than MP3 files encoded at the same bitrate.

This same post goes on to explain that most media players can play M4A format files. So part of me isn’t sure why you’d want to convert. M4A is smaller, sounds better, and should be compatible.

That said, I’m not sure WHY iTunes no longer exports in the format chosen in Import settings. I know that it did when I wrote the book. But I also know that iTunes 9 was released right around the same time the book was published. I can only assume that some kind of change was made in the code for the software for that new release. I no longer have iTunes 8 installed anywhere, so I can’t test this.

You can download a converter, though. Google “m4a to mp3″ (http://www.google.com/search?q=m4a+to+mp3) to search for one. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to convert any protected audio files — for example, DRM-protected files downloaded from the iTunes Music Store.

I don’t know anything about third party conversion software. I’m also not an iTunes expert. The book includes less than a dozen pages about iTunes; we covered the basics only because of page count restraints, preferring to concentrate on Mac OS features that needed to be in the book.

Hope this helps. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ll add an errata page to this site to point out the discrepancy.

There appears to be an inaccuracy on page 275 of your new VQG Mac OS X 10.6 guide. Could you clarify this?

At the bottom of page 275, you state: “Audio export format is also determined by Import Settings in iTunes preferences (figure 30).” This implies that iTunes is capable of converting between formats.

I already had some .m4a files in my iTunes Media folder that I wanted to convert to .mp3 for a non-Apple player. So I set iTunes->Preferences->Import Settings->Import Using = “MP3 Encoder”. However when I drag the .m4a files out of iTunes, they end up as still being .m4a in the Desktop or Finder.

Does iTunes refuse to encode in the requested format in all circumstances? Or will it encode on export when the exported file is in lossless .aiff?

If iTunes won’t do conversions, do you happen to know if any one of the various 3rd-party products that convert via virtual CD burning, is better than the rest?

Thanks for your advice.

If that’s what you have, then yes, my Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard book should be a good guide for you.

Best of luck with your new computer!

The book covers Mac OS. iPhoto doesn’t come with Mac OS. It comes with new computers and it’s part of the iLife suite of products. We had to draw the line at what comes with Mac OS.

I suggest the iPhoto ‘08 Visual QuickStart Guide. you can learn more here: http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx/TakeControl/iphoto7-vqs.html

Good luck!

Hope this helps!