Unitiserve Downloads Encoding ..

Posted by: John Willmott on 30 March 2016

I have just completed converting all the music on my Unitiserve to FLAC .. or so I thought.


In doing some spot checks of the results it appears as though the music in the Downloads folder is immune to the Encoding function the n-serve provides (I'm in MAC land if that has any bearing on the case).  In fact, right clicking on any of these albums in n-serve fails to highlight a number of items on the menu (Genre, Encoding, Edit Metadata) .. I read an interesting discussion on the forum about editing metadata outside of the Unitiserve environment but nothing regarding encoding.


I have m4a, AIFF-c, AIF, wav etc in this folder .. all the result of not having a consistent coding strategy when I started ripping/downloading I'm afraid .. 


The question I'm posing is what is the best method/tool to convert these tracks into FLAC, as I'm sure others amongst you have faced the same dilemma.  I intend standing up a functioning Minimserver, allowing me to send the Unitiserver back to the shop (again) because it no longer rips CD's inserted into its slitty little mouth.  

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

XLD will do what you want.

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by Claus-Thoegersen

Files in the download folder cannot be altered by the server software n-serve/desktop client, you will need to use a pc/mac tag editor.

Claus

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by hungryhalibut

Dbpoweramp will do it too.

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by Bart

I use XLD for this

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by John Willmott

Thank you gentlemen .. Bart:  yours was the discussion I found dating back to 13 ..

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by John Willmott

Bart:  What do use (if you've ever had to) to convert m4a to FLAC .. it doesn't seem that XLD will do it .. 

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by Bart

Never have had to do it, John!  But from looking online it looks like XLD supports .m4a

 

Posted on: 30 March 2016 by CalumM
John Willmott posted:

Bart:  What do use (if you've ever had to) to convert m4a to FLAC .. it doesn't seem that XLD will do it .. 

Hello John, XLD will convert m4a to FLAC.  Just go to menu XLD > Preferences  and change the output format to FLAC.

Posted on: 31 March 2016 by John Willmott
CalumM posted:
John Willmott posted:

Bart:  What do use (if you've ever had to) to convert m4a to FLAC .. it doesn't seem that XLD will do it .. 

Hello John, XLD will convert m4a to FLAC.  Just go to menu XLD > Preferences  and change the output format to FLAC.

CalumM: I'm not quite sure I understand your proposal .. I had made that change (output format to FLAC) to convert all the other formats in my library (wav, diff) but when presented with m4a, XLD just ignores it.   Under the batch option in Preferences there's a"Restrict files to open with extension" which initially only included was,diff,flac,wv,ape, and tta .. I added m4a to no avail ..

Posted on: 31 March 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

dBpoweramp converts m4a files to FLAC.

Posted on: 31 March 2016 by garyi

Just bear in mind that converting does not improve quality, if an MP3 or whatever is in 128k it stays that way into flac there is no benefit to be gained converting these types of files.

Posted on: 31 March 2016 by CalumM
John Willmott posted:
CalumM posted:
John Willmott posted:

Bart:  What do use (if you've ever had to) to convert m4a to FLAC .. it doesn't seem that XLD will do it .. 

Hello John, XLD will convert m4a to FLAC.  Just go to menu XLD > Preferences  and change the output format to FLAC.

CalumM: I'm not quite sure I understand your proposal .. I had made that change (output format to FLAC) to convert all the other formats in my library (wav, diff) but when presented with m4a, XLD just ignores it.   Under the batch option in Preferences there's a"Restrict files to open with extension" which initially only included was,diff,flac,wv,ape, and tta .. I added m4a to no avail ..

Hello John, I don't have that option checked and haven't modified the list of file types.  When I drag and drop a lossless m4a file onto XLD, with my preferences set as described, it converts the file to flac.  I am running version 20141129 (148.1).  Could it be that the m4a files you are trying are AAC (lossy) and not ALAC (lossless)?

Posted on: 31 March 2016 by John Willmott
CalumM posted:
John Willmott posted:
CalumM posted:
John Willmott posted:

Bart:  What do use (if you've ever had to) to convert m4a to FLAC .. it doesn't seem that XLD will do it .. 

Hello John, XLD will convert m4a to FLAC.  Just go to menu XLD > Preferences  and change the output format to FLAC.

CalumM: I'm not quite sure I understand your proposal .. I had made that change (output format to FLAC) to convert all the other formats in my library (wav, diff) but when presented with m4a, XLD just ignores it.   Under the batch option in Preferences there's a"Restrict files to open with extension" which initially only included was,diff,flac,wv,ape, and tta .. I added m4a to no avail ..

Hello John, I don't have that option checked and haven't modified the list of file types.  When I drag and drop a lossless m4a file onto XLD, with my preferences set as described, it converts the file to flac.  I am running version 20141129 (148.1).  Could it be that the m4a files you are trying are AAC (lossy) and not ALAC (lossless)?

Hmm .. I get butkiss .. nothing .. I'm running version 20151214 (149.1) .. I'm not sure about AAC or ALAC, the album in question was downloaded from iTunes.  I can't help but feel that I'm missing something really basic, and yet the process I adopted worked fine with over 99% of my library .. I have just the 5 m4a outliers which I can't convert ..

 

GaryI:  The intent is not to try and improve sound quality but to have the whole library in a single consistent format for when I drop kick the US into touch .. but thanks for the tip.

Jan-Erik:  Thanks for the heads up on that option I will research it ..

 

Posted on: 01 April 2016 by Mulberry

Hi John,

you mentioned the iTunes store as source for one of the problematic albums. Maybe the whole thing is DRM related? I think at least some items from the store are DRM protected.

Posted on: 02 April 2016 by John Willmott
Mulberry posted:

Hi John,

you mentioned the iTunes store as source for one of the problematic albums. Maybe the whole thing is DRM related? I think at least some items from the store are DRM protected.

Curses !! There's more than a smattering of truth in that thought .. thank you for the clue Mulberry .. I'll chase down that rabbit hole for a while.