Need help with this can of worms...

@KTMax

Living with an all Apple environment is only right and proper - and it annoys Patrick!

However, Apple and UPnP don't quite mix and Apple/Itunes and Wav is fraught with niggles.

Whatever server/NAS you choose - I doubt if you will be managing it with iTunes (something it took me a while to come to terms with) Your MBP however, should be perfectly able to rip and transfer files to your NAS/Server over your network. 

My solution was to rip/convert files on a Mac to aiff to store in master ITunes library (firewire HDD - multiple backups) and convert to flac (lossless and very UPnP friendly) for transfer to my server/Nas library for use with my Naim gear. I use Picard for difficult tagging and Bliss for file path / cover art issues.

I'm one of those cloth eared people who can't hear a difference between wav and aiff (or flac for that matter) and wav tagging is a pain in my experience.

Flac is the perfect compromise - lossless - open source - and supported by almost everyone except Apple.

Hope this helps

Tog

Hi Richard, I don't bother to get too bogged down in the detail, so the exact details of what I'm about to say may be wrong, but I know that in principle this is the issue at hand...

It's to do with the format of the standard files: the WAV file format does not define standard header tags that must be used by every application that generates them. This means that 2 different applications can generate a WAV with the same tag information in different meta data tag locations (if it's saved anywhere at all). The music element is defined by WAV - hence the PCM data (the music) is the same. Applications such as dBpoweramp use WAV meta data tags to shoe-horn in tag data such as artist, album title etc. However, because these tags are effectively customised to the app that generated the WAV it means that not all apps reading these files will know how to extract this tag data correctly.

In fact, in order to get the tag data from the file correctly you usually need to use a sister application from the same company that made your ripping software, this way it will know how to interpret the tag information correctly.

Stuart

Hello,

Stuart's reply is spot on and to reiterate one thing, separate the notion of how you rip to create a master copy (potentially wav) and the version you use for replay (FLAC, ALAC etc). If using a Naim or Linn UPNP solution these may be one and the same (all wav), but if not using Naim and you are trying to future-proof your rips they may be different.

As Stuart points out, if you use software from the same company that does the rip, then you can convert from wav to alac and have all the tags in the right place. This is how I do it for my music-on-the-go collection.

Cheers

Hi DQ -

This is a good strategy, and I can see how it works for you.  I have a slightly OT question that I hope nobody minds if I ask...

I am ripping my CDs (and recording my vinyl) to FLAC level 0.  I then stream to my NDX using Asset, which transcodes to WAV on-the-fly.  The Mrs. and I compared this to streaming native WAV directly via Asset, and could not hear any differences in sound quality.

At rip time, I also create a second copy -- a 320kbps MP3 file, which I use only for syncing to our mobile devices.   But this seems like such a waste of space, and I dislike the idea of redundant data!   So late last year, I tried using Media Monkey to transcode to MP3 at sync time, but ran into issues and eventually gave up.  MM was telling me that all of the songs on my iPod needed to be deleted and replaced, and then after about a day, it hung. I started over, refreshing the iPod from my MP3 folders, and that worked just fine.

iCloud looks like it could work for me sometime in the future, but I think I would prefer a local solution.   Are you, or is anyone else, having success using their media management software to transcode their "master copies" on-the-fly to MP3 or AAC for their iPods at sync time?

Thanks very much!

Hook

I sometimes use mediamonkey to transcode and sync files - seems ok to me. For some, probably irrational, reason I more often use dBpoweramps Music Convertor and let iTunes do the sync. J River Media Center is another option.

Hook,

iTunes offers the option to downsample stored files to 320kbps, etc. when copying them over to your ipod/phone/pad. But you probably know that...

Best

tp

Hook,

I have been flipping between the TP solution and creating a dedicated itunes library. The issue with the TP solution is that if your main library is in wav, then you have itunes tagging issues. And what is the point in converting to ALAC or AIFF and then converting again to AAC? If you are already an ALAC or AIFF user then this approach makes a ton of sense. I would warn you that the conversion time really slows down the ipod transfer rate.

So,  I think I am going to set the home PC to producing an itunes dedicated library of AAC and then use that just for ipods and laptop on the road.

Anyway, this is all so much more fun than thinking about different storage solutions for piles of CDs!

Cheers, David

Wont iTunes convert on the fly for you????

Originally Posted by pcstockton:

Hi Patrick -

My FLAC library was built from MediaMonkey rips, and I have not used iTunes (except for an occasional experiment here and there).

My understanding is that iTunes is still not FLAC-friendly, so using it to convert my files on-the-fly to MP3's at iPod sync time is not an option for me.

Since Likesmusic says MM works for him, am going to upgrade to the latest version and try it again.  If that fails, I can also try JRMC (I used it use it for playback before getting the NDX, and moving to UPnP).

Am just trying to get away from having multiple music libraries in different formats.  Unfortunately, there does not seem to be one lossless format they equally serves the Mac and PC worlds other than WAV, or possibly AIFF, each of which presents issues with tagging (or so I've read).  I think I'll be sticking with FLAC...

Hook

Hook,

just use dbPoweramp Batch Converter and convert hundreds at a time for you iPod.  I do it for my iPhone regularly.  Then delete them.  It takes a few minutes to convert enough to fill it up.

-patrick

Nick,

If you are simply making two copies of everything, most proper rippers will convert to MP3 and FLAC in the same rip.  No need to rip twice.

-p

Can't understand where this idea that ripping is more complicated on OSX if you don't use witunes has come from at all. XLD can be configured in any way that you could reasonably want and is easily the equal of dbpoweramp.

If you can tie your own shoelaces - very straightforward.

Dare I say it - ripit on VB is also pretty effortless

Tog

Does XLD give the same choice of metadata providers as dBpoweramp?