Converting TO ALAC

[gab]

Will MM3 support converting TO ALAC? Does it now?

[gab]

Does anyone know?

[gab]

Does anyone know the answer to this?

[rusty]

We expect it will eventually, but it's not planned for 3.0.0.

-Rusty

[gab]

Rusty - Thanks for getting back to me on this. Not the answer I was hoping for but, now that I know the timing, at least I can try and figure out another solution instead of waiting.

[2000]

...at least I can try and figure out another solution instead of waiting.

I don't know if this is any help but I recently converted my company's WAV file library to ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec, right?). I did it by making a playlist of our entire library (200,000 tracks) and dragging into iTunes. I right clicked and chose "Convert to Apple Lossless Format". You have to choose ALAC as the "Rip to" format first but it worked pretty well.

It can convert straight from WAV or WMA lossless on the fly.

[Peke]

Anyway, I would chose FLAC over ALAC as it is free(open source) and wider spread support than ALAC (Personal thought).

[daelin73]

Anyway, I would chose FLAC over ALAC as it is free(open source) and wider spread support than ALAC (Personal thought).

People used to say the same thing about OGG didn't they?

MM doesn't support AAC to rip or convert, not even Nero. ALAC might not be the most popular, but you can easily use iTunes to rip them (which is free also).

Lauren

[daelin73]

...at least I can try and figure out another solution instead of waiting.

I don't know if this is any help but I recently converted my company's WAV file library to ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec, right?). I did it by making a playlist of our entire library (200,000 tracks) and dragging into iTunes. I right clicked and chose "Convert to Apple Lossless Format". You have to choose ALAC as the "Rip to" format first but it worked pretty well.

It can convert straight from WAV or WMA lossless on the fly.

That's a good idea. I might try that for my WMA Lossless files.

Thanks,
Lauren

[Chauncey]

I had similar questions. I would like to synch songs from my FLAC MM3 library to my iPod in ALAC format. But, it's not going to be supported in 3.0. It looks like it's on a wishlist for upgrades to 3.0.

http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... light=alac

[Chauncey]

Any news/updates on this? I would like to dump iTunes from my PC but I can't until MM adds ALAC support. For now, I manually convert my FLACs to ALAC using dbPowerAMP and synch with iTunes.

[oldtimer]

Hey Chauncey PowerAmp is pretty sweet. I am real happy using a few audio utilities. I don't expect MM to do everything. If it does I doubt that it would be as good as it is now. I also use tagscanner.

[oldtimer]

I have asked this question on several different audio forums and never have gotten an answer. A wave file is lossless and is usually about 50 meg per 3 minutes, FLACs are also lossless and run about half the size of a wave, 320 br mp3s are about a tenth of a wave file and extreme VBRs can run as low as a 20th the size of a wave file both mp3s are lossy. However, what is lost in the high quality mp3s mentioned above can not be heard even with a young ear, let alone an adult who has listened to some loud R&R over the years. The extreme mp3s still keep some of the tones only dogs can hear. The high a 20,000 hz tone requires 2000 times the date as a 20 htz tone. Most humans can't hear either tone but might be able to feel the high pitch tone and we can surely feel the low pitched tone. Because the sample rate has to be much more to accurately preserve notes you can't even hear the data grows expedentially.

If you can't hear it the difference why worry? Movies only show something like 16 frames a second instead of an infinite number because we can only process 12 frames per second. Movies just give us a little more than what we can process. The same with the extreme quality mp3s they give you more than you can hear but are lossless. The digital CDs are lossy compared with analog vinyl but they are massive overkill for the human ear.

I will say not all the VBR MP3s may not be transparent to the human ear. That technology is both fairly new and extremely complex. In theroy, they can be transparent to the human ear and some encoders may have reached that stage. However, you need extremely excellent equipment and must be a trained listener to hear the difference.

Can anyone even claim that they can hear the difference between a wave or a FLAC file and a 320 BR mp3? Most persons can't even tell the difference between 125 BR and a wave file. I can, but I am not sure if I can tell the difference between a 160 BR and a wave file.

I don't expect an answer here either. I felt like I had to ask the question.

[Guest]

The extreme mp3s still keep some of the tones only dogs can hear. The high a 20,000 hz tone requires 2000 times the date as a 20 htz tone.

Just because mp3s include tones up to 20,000hz doesn't mean they don't discard some information below 20,000hz. My understanding is that mp3 compresssion is based on tricking the ear by removing softer sounds that are thought to be masked by louder sounds.

If you can't hear it the difference why worry?

What you can hear may change in time with the quality of the sound reproduction equipment you can afford, and the environment you are listening in. Maybe I never will be able to hear the the difference, (I haven't honestly tried) But I don't like the idea of throwing away something I paid for, and disk space is cheap.

And just because I'm old doesn't mean younger ears will never listen to my music collection. I've got neices and nephews who trade songs with me.

[Peke]

@daelin73
Sorry, for late answer but MM do Support AAC Rip Convert