Converting FLAC collection to AIFF

[tmesselt]

So, I just recently made the switch to a mac mini. I have most of my music stored on a pc on my network. This is all stored in flac, I want to use itunes as my primary music player, and dont want to use a program like fluke every time I want to import music.

 

I plan on in the near future to switch my music from a pc on my network to a nas.

 

So I think that I would rather have everything stored in AIFF. (Is this better to use than wav?) My question is if I convert my flac collection to AIFF, will I gain, lose or just keep the exact same quality as the flac files I converted from???

 

Also for mac is the best program to use max??

 

thanks

tmesselt

 

[Lizard_King]

FLAC is the best lossless encoded type system out there. AIFF is larger so you need more space to store your files. Best app for converting (sorry, no Mac version) is DBPoweramp Music Converter.

 

[tmesselt]

I guess this really didnt cover what I was asking. And since FLAC is a compressed lossless format, I am looking for uncompressed lossless which is why I am inquiring about AIFF. Also I am wanting to use itunes which FLAC is not natively supported by.

 

[Roseval]

So I think that I would rather have everything stored in AIFF. (Is this better to use than wav?)

In principle there is no difference as lossless=lossless

WAV is in little-endian, AIFF in big-endian ( most-significant byte first) and this corresponds with the processor architecture used by Intel X86=little-endian and Power PC=big-endian.

In principle WAV is more efficient on X86.

 

In practice you another problem, tagging support in WAV is a mess. I recommand in case of WAV to behave as if tagging don't exist at all.

 

http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/WAV_KB.htm

 

 

[radar2886]

You can use Fluke which is a free program or Max which is also free. I prefer Max as it lets you set your preferences and it will import the files into iTunes when you are done.

 

[DavidJPettifor]

Max is a great application for Mac users and will be perfect for what you wish to do.

 

You can rest assured that if you convert all your FLAC files to AIFF you will not gain, will not lose but will keep, exactly the same quality. However, you will of course lose some disk space.

 

--

djp

 

[cfmsp]

 

I agree with David here on the sound quality of AIFF versus wav versus FLAC.

 

As for the best player on a Mac, that necessarily remains an individual choice, as there are tradeoffs WRT ease of use of iTunes versus other programs.

 

I'm channeling Ashley/Tim/et al here, but you should probably compare any program you are considering against iTunes to see if you can hear the difference before selecting something other than iTunes.

 

Max is a strong contender (on my shortlist) as are Songbird, and Wave Editor (which is not free).

 

I believe Max may play your FLAC files natively!?

 

Personally, I'm still at the experimental stage with anything other than iTunes, due to the convenience factor.

 

enjoy

clay

 

 

 

 

 

[tmesselt]

Well, one reason I want itunes is the ability to use the remote app. I currently am using songbird and will continue to keep an eye on its progression.

So as far as Max goes, this plays flac natively? If so how do you do this? I only see max as a converter.

 

Also, what is the best way to get album art to itunes, or my directory's on a mac?

 

So one more thing to clear up, should I convert to Apple Lossless or just keep my collection in FLAC and use a program like fluke or max to play these within itunes?

 

[DavidJPettifor]

I use Max to convert from FLAC to AIFF. I then import the AIFF files into iTunes for playback.

 

--

djp

 

[radar2886]

I am going to second David and say go with AIFF. Storage space is cheap these days and you never have to worry if you are missing something. I use AIFF when I convert the FLAC files I download from Archive.org and the results are stunning.

 

[cfmsp]

"So as far as Max goes, this plays flac natively? If so how do you do this? I only see max as a converter."

 

Try Play, written by the same people that offer Max - sbooth.org

 

 

"Also, what is the best way to get album art to itunes, or my directory's on a mac?"

 

Not sure about the 'best way', but I use TuneUp to find metadata/artwork for audio files that were NOT ripped by iTunes. http://www.tuneupmedia.com/ [note: Get Album Artwork function in iTUnes only works when iTunes is used to 'rip' the files]

 

"So one more thing to clear up, should I convert to Apple Lossless or just keep my collection in FLAC and use a program like fluke or max to play these within itunes?"

 

Dealer's choice here... for a no fuss, no muss environment, I'd recommend converting to AIFF (NOT ALAC) and using iTunes.

 

For lossless, I doubt I'd invest the time to convert from FLAC to ALAC. I've used Fluke only superficially (due to not using FLAC), and can't really comment on it's usability factor.

 

enjoy

clay

 

 

 

[tmesselt]

Ok, so i am feeling strong about my original thought about converting everything to AIFF via max. I have done a few test runs, importing straight to itunes and preserving all of the tags. Only problem is there anyway to batch convert an entire directory?? With a several hundred flac albums one at a time is a daunting task. I guess I could use dbpoweramp to batch convert everything, but would like to do everything by mac if possible.

 

 

[radar2886]

You can convert more than one file at a time. Just drag the folder you wan to convert into Max. I have only done about 25 files at a time, so I do not know if there is a point where it will choke.

 

[baxtus]

Please check the dbpoweramp forum re: AIFF prior to batch conversion. You may wish to wait a month or so.

 

[Tog]

Have been using Max for over a year - works perfectly like Handbrake for video ripping. Excellent programs both.

 

yours to the Max, tog

 

[Tog]

Have been using Max for over a year - works perfectly like Handbrake for video ripping. Excellent programs both.

 

yours to the Max, tog

 

[starcat]

Max is excellent for FLAC to ALAC conversion, however it do not handle tags when converting to AIFF. Just to let you know in case you have tags and want to preserve them.

 

[syganymede]

There is a small utility called XLD, which will re-encode FLAC to AIFF and automatically load into iTunes, plus supporting tags. Just Goggle XLD to find it, its free.

 

[starcat]

I can also highly recommend XLD for conversions. It will show an error if the source file is not perfect (skips, etc). It supports full tag transfer into/from AIFF and can also split single flac/cue into multiple files.

 

[micmix]

I'm sort of new to this but have been involved in the live engineering side of the music business for years. Stumbling upon Fluke for Flac conversion raises some questions for me. Why does it want to convert to a quicktime file? even though it does put the files in itunes why don't i have a choice as to the converted format? Does it really matter? For some reason it won't play the music files over my wifi networked audio system but will play on the computer itself. Baffling me. Very cool stuff this is.

 

[rmva]

Hi micmix,

 

FLUKE doesn't convert anything, it only makes iTunes think your FLAC files are quicktime movie files so it'll play. but it remains FLAC unless you use iTunes to convert to ALAC or AIFF.

 

cheers,

Ruud

 

 

[micmix]

I've found max which seems to be what I was looking for in the first place. Appears to interface with itunes. Learning curve is happening here. thanks for the reply. I'm open to any direction you can lead me.

 

[watchnerd]

I'll 2nd the recommendation to use XLD for FLAC to AIFF or ALAC conversion.

 

It even preserves the higher bitrates and tags of tracks you get from places like HDTracks.

 

[micmix]

on some conversions into itunes i get the files listed as unknown. anyone know what the deal is here?

 

[watchnerd]

In XLD I just:

 

1. Convert from FLAC to ALAC/AIFF in a temporary directory

2. Go to iTunes and hit 'Add to Library'

3. ALAC/AIFF files get added to iTunes flawless

4. Delete files in temporary directory. They're just wasting space once the iTunes import is done.

 

Give it a try!