Ripping to FLAC for Apple-how to?

dB Cooper · « **Reply #20 on:** 24 Sep 2007, 02:07 am »

Quote from: Double Ugly on 24 Sep 2007, 01:56 am

Additionally, I came across the FLAC Encoding Guide for Mac site tonight while investigating XLD.

Good; hope it has some good info on XLD, whose documentation is all but useless.

Double Ugly · « **Reply #21 on:** 24 Sep 2007, 02:30 am »

Quote from: dB Cooper on 24 Sep 2007, 02:07 am

Quote from: Double Ugly on 24 Sep 2007, 01:56 am
Additionally, I came across the FLAC Encoding Guide for Mac site tonight while investigating XLD.
Good; hope it has some good info on XLD, whose documentation is all but useless.

Actually, no, it doesn't.

I found the url posted in a review for xACT on Mac Update, the site where I'd been reading XLD reviews. However, but the FEGfM instructions call for using Max + xACT.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #22 on:** 24 Sep 2007, 11:37 am »

Quote from: dB Cooper on 24 Sep 2007, 01:48 am

I don't use a squeezebox or slimserver. Is this where people are noticing differences between ALAC and FLAC? If the formats are truly lossless, there shouldn't be any. Are people hearing differences in direct playback? I haven't investigated much at all, but have converted the same files to both formats and the file sizes are almost identical.

Yes, I'm noticing the difference between FLAC and ALAC using Slimserver/Squeezebox/Transporter. The formats are both lossless, but they are processed differently with this setup...for licensing reasons, the Squeezebox/Transporter does not decode ALAC natively; ALAC files must be converted in Slimserver to a format that is supported on SB/TP natively...the natively-supported formats are FLAC, MP3, and WAV. In the case of FLAC, this means that there are two decodings happening...one on Slimserver (from ALAC to FLAC), then one on SB/TP (from FLAC to uncompressed data). If you convert ALAC to WAV on Slimserver, then there is only one decoding happening (from ALAC to WAV). Yes, they do result in the same data, but I'm guessing that the two decoding processes somehow add jitter to the datastream...

Daedalus Audio · « **Reply #23 on:** 19 Dec 2007, 07:06 pm »

i'm using mac but am a neophyte with the computer based audio. i'd like to rip much of my collection and share them with my son who uses PC, (wish i could bring him back from the dark side.... ).
it sounds like apple lossless isn't the best way to go, what about using i-tunes and ripping to wave or AIFF? will that work for both mac & windows, as well as give best sound?

thanks, lou

Matt__P · « **Reply #24 on:** 19 Dec 2007, 07:54 pm »

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm going to start burning my collection and dont know which route to go.
Would like it to be as flexible as possible, best sound, as well as sqeezebox compatible.
If you were starting from scratch which direction would you go?

avta · « **Reply #25 on:** 19 Dec 2007, 08:21 pm »

Try Max..a free program at www.sbooth.org. I rip to flac and store the files on an external drive.

Daedalus Audio · « **Reply #26 on:** 19 Dec 2007, 09:17 pm »

" ....what about using i-tunes and ripping to wave or AIFF? will that work for both mac & windows, as well as give best sound? "

i'm wondering about how to do this if possible in i-tunes. i'd rather not use third party software, just like to keep it simple as a mac user....

thanks

philipp · « **Reply #27 on:** 19 Dec 2007, 09:46 pm »

To change importing settings in iTunes/MacOS, go to iTunes>Preferences, Advanced tab, Importing, Import Using. Your choices: AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, and WAV. And always select "Use error correction...". Voila!

For CD ripping with log files, FLAC compression, and fingerprint file creation, I'd agree with the earlier recommendations for xAct and the encoding guide linked by Double Ugly. For a simple FLAC (and every other file type) player, I'd highly recommend Cog -- http://cogx.org/.