Hi,
Okay so I have Itunes which originally was used for portable music on Ipod etc... of course. I need some help.
I am looking to take this library and move it over to a high grade server type application. A few issues I can see beginning with the fact there are a few file types in the library ranging from AAC, MPEG, and AIFF.
Here are my Questions :
#1- Itunes has options to convert files even the MPEG(low rez) back up to AIFF and WAV(hi rez). I realize WAV, AIFF, and FLAC are your best options for sound quality. Unfortunately not all of these files are in these formats as some were ripped directly to the lower formats from disc. Am I screwed being forced to re-rip these discs directly to WAV? Or is the conversion up from the lower res files going to restore the same quality the AIFF, WAV etc... would provide without having to rip directly from disc again?
# 2- I have also seen arguments for file conversion stating Itunes is no good even for this and most recommend "dbpoweramp"? Is it really necessary to use a better program for these conversions if they are even worth doing from low rez back up to hi rez?
# 3- From what I can tell .Wav files are the rawest most bit for bit quality files. I also am reading that AIFF and FLAC are the same just a different format.
Is WAV the best way to go if I use something like Jriver or even Itunes for that matter in sound quality? Or is AIFF that I have most of these files in going to perform the same vs. converting back to WAV? I do understand going from AIFF to WAV for example is fine no loss.
# 4- I can go into the main media file in the existing itunes and find all the raw music files as regular windows files. First off is there a way to just select this main media file and drop them into some program for a mass conversion to the final WAV format to get them all finalized going into something like Jriver? In Itunes I can go in and convert files with the main interface of course, however this is only going to work going into each album separate. Not the most efficient for a couple hundred albums.
#5- To move the Itunes media file which is all just windows standard files anyway can I just that whole file with all converted WAV files on a large enough external drive to then drop into a new Jriver file or something on the new music server?
Hope this was not too confusing as I guess anybody that knows what they are doing can understand pretty clearly.
Furthermore, I am really hoping I am not stuck dumping 100 albums of MPEG or AAC files having to re-rip the source CD's in order to get them back to a lossless format for a hi-rez music server, but I guess I am forced if they are all garbage converting from MPEG to WAV for example.
Thanks!