flac to apple

[kenb]

I have a large collection of flac files I want to use on my ipod. Obviously I want the best quality possible. Just so I'm clear, if I covert the flac files to m4a, is that basically lossless that can be used on the ipod?

Thanks,

KenB

[xoas]

I believe that Apple Lossless will be encoded as m4a but not all m4a files are lossless.
Is this what you are asking?

Best wishes,
Bill

[LtData]

Apple Lossless is the only compressed lossless format that goes on the iPod. You can always put uncompressed, lossless AIFF or WAV files on your player, but the ALAC (apple lossless) is more size-effecient

[kenb]

Thanks for your help. Trying hard to quickly understand all the apple jargon. Just for clarity then can you someone grade me here:

1. ALAC (Apple's Compressed Lossless) will be stored as an m4a file.

2. I need to check an m4a files properties to see what type of file it is?

3. I can covert to Apple Compressed Lossless using dbpoweramp (or must I use itunes?)

4. itunes gives 5 choices of converting/storing music...
- aac - which is apple lossy compressed
- aiff - which is apple lossless uncompressed (their wav if you will)
- apple lossless - aka ALAC, most similar to flac
- plus mp3/wav which are a given...

Do I pass?

Thanks for your help.

[LtData]

You can use dMC, but you must use the iTunes Encoder codec to make ALAC files and have iTunes installed.

One easy way to check to see if the m4a file is a normal m4a or lossless is size: a normal 5 minute song will be about 30-50MB as ALAC, and no more than 10MB as normal m4a.