Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

[mozart999uk]

Just about to start ripping my CDs and wanted to check that my planned route was ok...

I plan to rip to alac, drag the files into my itunes library and then point sonos to the itunes folder. I want to keep everything organised in itunes.

Anyone foresee any problems?

I'd read somewhere that tags aren't so good in ALAC (less detailed?) and better in FLAC


Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Spoon]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

Tags are fine in ALAC.

There are no issues, keep the default maximum art size options in dBpoweramp CD Ripper, if you store overly large album art the sonos will not read it.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

One other note: iTunes (Apple products in general) and Sonos employ some organizational tags a little differently. You may need to experiment a bit with things like AlbumArtist, the compilation tag, and supplemental tags for featured/contributing artists (when applicable) to find the combination of tagging system and iTunes & Sonos settings that works best for the way you use both the programs. It took me a little while to get the organization I wanted in both programs, but now it's pretty seamless.

I've heard these complaints about ALAC tags, too, but I've never had any problems with them. Do heed Spoon's suggestion about cover image sizes. When they are way too big, Sonos won't read them at all, but even when they are "within spec," larger images will really slow down loading times. In my experience, keeping the image files in the ~200-250Kb range seems to be a good balance of resolution and loading speed.

PS: I wouldn't let iTunes organize your library...just do it yourself and add the folders manually to iTunes.

[mozart999uk]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

Thanks both. Really useful information / tips :-)

[mozart999uk]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

Just wondered if I could pose another question? What is the best way of getting the files that I've ripped using DBpoweramp into itunes? Is it to copy them into the "automatically add to itunes" folder or to drag and drop them onto the itunes interface?

Perhaps there's another way?

I've tried the first two options. The automatically add to itunes option doesn't copy the "folder.jpg" files which I gather I need for artwork on the sonos.

Dragging them directly to the itunes gui - I find I have to drag the tracks only as if I drag the whole folder, itunes seems to hang (something to do with the "folder.jpg" file again pr possibly the text file that Dbpoweramp outputs?)


Any tips?

[Spoon]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

iTunes will not move folder.jpg, I do not think there is another way.

[Ripper]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

The quickest way I found was to point dbPoweramp "Path" to the root of your iTunes database (usually iTunes Music). Rip/encode to the artist/album folder. Then add the new folders to iTunes via the "Add Folder to Library..." menu choice under "Files" by navigating to the iTunes Music folder, Press "Select Folder" and iTunes will add all the new albums under the iTunes Music folder. I did an 856 cd collection that way and it worked without a problem.

[mozart999uk]

Re: Ripping to alac - itunes - sonos. any perceived problems? Tags?

Thanks Spoon and Ripper for your replies. I'll give the "add folder to library" a go and see what happens :-)