Apple Lossless Codec and iPod

[ultralame]

Hi. I originally encoded 100s of CDs as FLAC and lossless WMA.

I used dMC and the Apple Lossless codec to re-encode these files to Apple Lossless when I switched to iTunes and iPods.

The files work perfectly within iTunes.

However, when I am listening to a playlist or album on the iPod, the iPod will skip over every other song. I have problems accessing the songs via the Fwd/Back buttons.

Note that I can access and play any song if I directly select it from a menu. It's only when one song ends or I hit the Fwd/Back buttons that it will skip songs.

Example:
I am listening to track 1 of an album. The song ends. Track 2 briefly displays, but before it plays, the iPod moves on to track 3. When 3 is done, it goes to 5, etc.

If I mess with the Fwd/Back buttons enough, I can get it to play track 2. But then it skips the odd tracks!

If I use iTunes to re-encode the m4a songs they will work fine. But that's a lot of headache for 10,000 songs.

Is this a problem with the Codec or the iTunes system? Is someone not playing fair?

[LtData]

What did you use to upload the songs to your iPod, Sveta or iTunes?

[ultralame]

iTunes

EDIT: Just installed and tried Sveta. Same problem.

I used a Hex editor to compare originals and files re-encoded by iTunes. There is a pretty substantial difference in the metadata.

I was under the impression that ALAC was an open standard. That's not true. so I think I have to re-encode.

[LtData]

It may be an open standard but that doesn't mean Apple has to follow the standard in their products.