[EDS_]

Hey friends,
I have zillions of songs from CDs stored in AIFF format in iTunes on an old Macbook (Intel/2.4ghz/6 gig RAM/750 gig HDD).

1. Any technical reason why I should leave them in AIFF and not convert to ALAC?

2. If I convert how do I go about doing so?  Any threads/stickies here that I missed?

Thx

[jtwrace]

Hey friends,
I have zillions of songs from CDs stored in AIFF format in iTunes on an old Macbook (Intel/2.4ghz/6 gig RAM/750 gig HDD).

1. Any technical reason why I should leave them in AIFF and not convert to ALAC?

2. If I convert how do I go about doing so?  Any threads/stickies here that I missed?

Thx

HD space is cheap leave them in AIFF IMO.  I use AIFF only.

[Crimson]

HD space is cheap leave them in AIFF IMO.  I use AIFF only.

+1.

[EDS_]

Roger that on cheap HDD space.

However, between ~500 gigs of music, 15,000+ photos and a little video my 750 gig HDD is jammed.  I like having all of my stuff "on-board" as it were for portability reasons.

And yes I have multiple backups.

Do you guys see AIFF as technically better than ALAC for listening purposes?

[chrisby]

Roger that on cheap HDD space.

However, between ~500 gigs of music, 15,000+ photos and a little video my 750 gig HDD is jammed.  I like having all of my stuff "on-board" as it were for portability reasons.

And yes I have multiple backups.

sooner or later you need to man-scape your data - the first time's the worst

Do you guys see AIFF as technically better than ALAC for listening purposes?

that's actually the more interesting question for me at the moment  - depending on where you "borrow" your music from,  the native files can be in any number of formats and if your iTunes import setting is "Automatic / Apple Lossless"   will there be a conversion that affects "bit perfect" storage,  and presuming we're talking about redbook resolution, are there some DACs/chipsets known to sound better or have "issues"  with any given format?

[Daedalus Audio]

Roger that on cheap HDD space.


Do you guys see AIFF as technically better than ALAC for listening purposes?

when I first got into server based source I ripped about 300 cd's to ALAC, and was appalled at the sound quality. even if that isn't important at this time, there may be a point down the road when you will regret not having those files in AIFF, WAV or FLAC.

[kenreau]

HD space is cheap leave them in AIFF IMO.  I use AIFF only.

Ditto on both accounts, if sound quality is a priority.

I just bought a Seagate 2TB portable usb drive at Costco with a sales coupon for $69!!! Normally $89.  What a bargain.

Kenreau

[avta]

You might try converting a few familiar tracks and compare the formats before you decide. There is a lot of discussion about this on various sites. I've tried this myself using FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, WAV and am unable to hear differences. Others have reported a difference. It may be a system and or listener dependent issue.

[chrisby]

Ditto on both accounts, if sound quality is a priority.

I just bought a Seagate 2TB portable usb drive at Costco with a sales coupon for $69!!! Normally $89.  What a bargain.

Kenreau

even at the normal price, that's just crazy

[chrisby]

You might try converting a few familiar tracks and compare the formats before you decide. There is a lot of discussion about this on various sites. I've tried this myself using FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, WAV and am unable to hear differences. Others have reported a difference. It may be a system and or listener dependent issue.

that's sorta my earlier question  - is there enough anecdotal evidence on which to compile "a list" 

for now, as it was a simple default setting,  all my CDs are imported as ALAC, with error correction

if I ever undertake to pursue high res,  these few hundreds of  "albums" as I'll likely never stop thinking of them, will still be quaintly    playable at redbook resolution, and there are separate forums for discussing the former

remember when it was a simple as moving magnet or moving coil, direct/idler/rim-puck drive, fixed/ uni-pivot/tangential, suspended/solid,  quarter or half-track, east-coast/west-coast, triode/pentode, quasi / complementary symmetry, .............

oh yeah, those were the good old days   

[skunark]

Probably the only argument for AIFF over ALAC is that AIFF has been around a lot longer and non-mac OSes might have a more mature library.   I hit an issue with ALAC files on the Bryston BDP that caused me to convert all of my ALAC to AIFF.   I haven't looked back.    (For those interested on the issue, I had glitches between songs and also a few songs caused the MPD daemon to crash)

Jim

[srb]

If you absolutely have to conserve hard disk space and have universal compatability among most all platforms and players, FLAC is a good bet (except of course for iTunes!), otherwise I like AIFF.  I converted my library from WAV to AIFF for the tagging ability.
 
The inability of some players to deal with AIFF probably isn't a concern for Mac users, but on the Windows side, AIFF tags are not recognized by Foobar and the files aren't even recognized at all by Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center.  Because my two players of choice are J. River and iTunes, I'm not really concerned, but I am a little surprised.
 
Steve

[Pez]

when I first got into server based source I ripped about 300 cd's to ALAC, and was appalled at the sound quality. even if that isn't important at this time, there may be a point down the road when you will regret not having those files in AIFF, WAV or FLAC.

Lou, you are the only person I have ever met that has had this problem. I converted a very sizable potion of my music to ALAC and it is 100% the same as WAV, FLAC, and AIFF. The only time I would say NOT to use ALAC is when you are using hi Rez files. It converts things from say 24/96 to 16/96. Other than that I say go for it, just don't use Lou's computer to rip ALAC.

[Crimson]

Just an FYI: converting ALAC to AIFF while offline (ie outside of iTunes) will give you bit-identical files vis–à–vis AIFF rips. In other words, no need to re-rip. If you have ALAC and feel the need for AIFF, just convert. Max works very well.

[skunark]

Just an FYI: converting ALAC to AIFF while offline (ie outside of iTunes) will give you bit-identical files vis–à–vis AIFF rips. In other words, no need to re-rip. If you have ALAC and feel the need for AIFF, just convert. Max works very well.

iTunes can easily do this conversion that is bit-identical, just change your default rip to AIFF and select all your ALAC and convert.     Once completed your an remove the ALAC from the library (probably keep the files and backup).    Nice part about this is that the metadata not stored in the actually file will be be carried over in iTunes, probably minor to most.

[jtwrace]

FYI

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=pcaudio&m=99200