Converting wav files in iTunes to AAIF to allow tagging in iTunes, Possible ?

[holo]

Hi Guys

 

I have a laptop, WIN XP, connected to my receiver. I have an ext HDD attached to the laptop which has all my CD's ripped in WAV. I have a Devilsound snowflake dac attached from the laptop to the receiver. I tried a clean install of iTunes and obviously my WAV's appeared as individual songs but with no tags. Only some mp3's had tags found in iTunes.

 

I realise now WAV doesn't support tagging per se in iTunes (or perhaps it is the other way round). I looked at Monkey Media but my wife especially wants to stick with iTunes. Also I found the remote on the iPhone works better than the Media Tunes app for the iphone.

 

Now, I need hopefully convert all my WAV's to a format that is going to be automatically tagged. ie, if, in iTunes, I change import settings to AIFF and then in iTunes click all my WAV's, then go to iTunes advanced settings and convert to AIFF, will it auto batch convert and automatically apply artist, album, track name etc to show up correctly in iTunes ? I originally tagged them in DB Poweramp (free version)

 

I am trying to avoid ripping 300 plus CD's again !

 

Also, is AIFF the best format to use ? Space isn't really an issue. I know Chris used to be a fan of AIFF.

 

I haven't set up playlists yet as it is a clean iTunes install. Therefore I can delete iTunes and batch convert with something else before installing iTunes again and importing all again if this works better ?

 

Finally, when installing the Devilsound Dac all I did was select it from the hardware list under sounds and connected it. In iTunes all levels, mixing options are de-selected, I presume they are the only settings I need to maximise sound quality ?

 

I appreciate you reading this far

 

Cheers

Nick

 

 

 

[silverlight]

While I'm not familiar with iTunes for Windows, I can comment on the Mac version and perhaps there is some overlap in feature set (or lack of features in this case).

iTunes only supports tagging for WAV files if the tags are generated from within iTunes (manually or ripping with iTunes). They are stored in the database file within itunes. if you rebuild your WAV files with a clean install of itunes you will lose all your tags from when you originally ripped your discs, or from when you manually tagged them. Hopefully you have a backup of the original install and database (you could potentially reconstruct the tags, etc.). If from within itunes you convert to another format like AIFF, I believe itunes will then generate track-specific tags for the songs which are then transportable to a clean install of itunes or another program.

So unless anyone else has a bright idea I think your best bet is to try to reconstruct the prior install if at all possible and convert from there or move the library to the new location so that the tagging is retained. good luck, I know how painful dealing with itunes+WAV is (I only use WAV as well....).

 

[holo]

Thanks silverlight.

 

As I have started with a fresh iTunes install I figured I may batch convert in dbpoweramp my wav's to AIFF. Then I will uninstall iTunes and the library. Then I can reinstall iTunes and scan my folders for the AIFF files and the mp3's I still have. I tried a test in iTunes and they appear to import okay with correct tags when doing this. Hopefully it works okay !

 

I have about 5000 tracks to convert, I am retaining my original WAV files elsewhere, indeed I have 2 x copies on seperate hard drives to ensure i don't need re-rip.

 

From what I have read the AIFF files are still lossless so still a great quality. Hopefully therefore i don't miss out much, other than perhaps manually tagging 5000 tracks in iTunes !

 

[Guest WATERLOGIC]

Some people believe aiff and wav files sound better than flac or ALAC or sth. lossless .

This simply is not TRUE. Decompressing before play is a piece of cake for even the weakest computer.

 

Cheers.

 

[holo]

For anyone else with a similar problem this is what I did.

 

I did a batch convert from WAV to AIFF in DBPoweramp, I converted the WAV's only by using a filter and to convert took about 2 1/2 hours. I then did a clean install of iTunes and scanned the folder to which I'd stored the AIFF's. It all worked fine and all tags came across thank goodness.

 

As for the Devilsound Dac, my computer audio files sound great played in pure mode through the Yamaha. Certainly much better than before. Being able to use the iPhone as a remote just makes it even more convenient.

 

Thanks for your help all.

 

[ted_b]

I just want to lend my support to Geoff (Silverlight) and his "WAV sounds better to me" assertion that seems to be rubbing some people the wrong way. There is no debate that this "one codec sounds better than another" discussion is truly debatable. There doesn't seem to be an empirical yes or no here. It is very clear that there are two sides to this debate, or maybe both are right...maybe there are many auditory variables out there, and Geoff and I are among those lucky ones that happen to have the sensitivity-to-codec one. I'm envious of those of you that don't hear it, frankly. It's one more variable, one more option that makes this hobby sometimes crazier than we want it. But I think the right approach in these public forums is to at least agree that there is life to both sides of the argument...then have a good debate. My $.02.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi waterlogic - What sort of testing have you done to compare the sound of wav, aiff and alas, flac etc...? I'm interested in your process that leads to a very strong opinion. I'm not suggesting you're wrong or right just looking for a way to assess your statements for my own information.

 

[Guest WATERLOGIC]

Hearing blind testing on all different kinds of setups with young ears of several people, some musicians among them. Equipment used : Mac Pro, Macbook pro 15inch, macmini, DROBO edirol fa 66 sound card, different dacs (mostly hooked via M2Tech HiFace to coaxial inputs) and to eliminate room / equipment influence we picked Lehman black cube linear headphone amplifier conected to dac RCA ports listening to Sennheiser HD800 cans.

 

Music : few titles from linnrecords 24/ 192, 96, 88.2 kHz (mostly classical music), many titles from hdtracks (classical, jazz, bluegrass, blues, world)-96, 88.2kHz, some DVD-Audio rips and some redbook files, XRCD k2 rips . Also with some self made vocal recordings.

 

Conclusion : guesses spread was equal or worse than lucky guessing so we believe there is no sonic difference and is more a case of imaginative make believe when you know what is playing.

So I use flac and apple lossless. Of course if you hear the difference go ahead with aiff . Bytheway how did you test to find the difference, if at all ?

 

 

(Suggestion for a nice setup : macmini with DROBO(via firew), M2Tech HiFace USB/coax 24/192 , coax to a DAC of your choice - we liked Aqvox with upsampling to OFF a lot for its price/performance)