hello. newbie question here.

i recently discovered three MPEG-1 layer 2 files in my library. this wouldn't have been any problem if my iPod hadn't refused to accept them.

is there a way to losslessly convert them to layer 3? i use macOS X 10.2.6.

AFAIK no, but you can try to rename them from .mp2 to .mp3, sometimes the decoder can decode them, but the extension is not recognized as supported format.

mp2 is a lot different then MP3. Its closest to MPC IIRC. No MP3 decoder is going to decode them unless a special MP2 decoder is included in the player (like in Winamp).

Rerip from CD.

mpeg audio layer-2 is a subset of mpeg audio layer-3 (think mp3 without the MDCT) so an mp3 decoder should have the capabilities to decode an mp2 file, it's just a matter of whether it has been written to identify the mp2 file and process them