Wrong Max?

[audiophile65]

Hi!

It's Meredith.

Good news: I downloaded Max-0.9.1.tar.bz2, then purchased and downloaded Steely Dan's "Gaucho" 24/96 off of HDTracks (I still have the FLAC files of "Gaucho" ready to use again later -- more on that in a minute), and then converted "Gaucho" FLAC to AIFF into my iTunes (with my MacBook Pro with OSX 10.6.7 and Intel processor). All the songs downloaded successfully, though it took about 20 minutes to fully download. The only problem: somehow I was not able to transfer the liner notes to the album, although I followed Chris' very helpful video step by step.

 

Bad news: I find out a few hours later (from Chris) that I should have downloaded Max-r1438.tar.br2. Although I had absolutely no problems with using Max-0.9.1.tar.bz2 for the whole "Gaucho" process (sans my little problem with unsuccessfully attaching the liner notes to the complete file), I'm wondering if the Max-0.9.1... is OK and should stick with it, or if I should switch to Max-r1438... ? Also, is there a sonic difference between the two Max programs? If I need to use the Max-r1438, can I use the FLAC files I still have of the album?

 

BTW, I listened to some of "Gaucho" through the MacBook Pro with $150 Bose headphones (remember, I don't have a DAC yet). It plays fine, and though it may not sound absolutely spectacular through mere Bose headphones straight out of a MacBook Pro, I do fully expect it will sound spectacular via a DAC through a quality audio system.

 

Please write back with any and all suggestions regarding the two Max's. Would also appreciate how to attach the liner notes (I wonder what step or two I missed from the great video).

 

Thanks!

 

[goldsdad]

Repeating what I said in your other thread on this topic:

 

"Use Max-r1438.tar.bz2 (unstable) on OS X 10.6.7

On OS X 10.6.7, the "stable" version has an intermittent crashing/freezing problem when you try to access the Preferences>Formats panel.

 

Max-r1438.tar.bz2 (unstable) is recommended by the developer..."

 

The 0.9.1 "stable" version of Max, which you have, will do the same conversions as the newer r1438 "unstable", so don't worry about the tracks you've already converted - they will be correct. However, you should consider upgrading to "r1438" to avoid the known intermittent problem of 0.9.1.

 

On OS X 10.6.6 and 10.6.7, the "stable" version is unstable, whereas the "unstable" version seems to be stable

 

As for the liner notes problem, the procedure in Chris's video worked here. How far do you get with adding the liner notes pdf to iTunes?

Click on "Books" in the library list at the top left hand side of the iTunes window. If the pdf is not listed on the right, drag and drop it there from a Finder window.

Now right-click the pdf (in iTunes) and change its properties as in the video. The pdf's Media Kind needs to be changed from "Book" to "Music", and it must be given exactly the same Album, Artist (and Album Artist if used) tag values as the audio tracks - copy 'n' paste will help make sure. Also, if you use the iTunes Column Browser to narrow selections, the Genre, Grouping and Composer tags of the pdf should be set to match those of the audio, otherwise the pdf won't always show in the album when "column browsing".