Audio format

[Tony's Tunes]

I have Windows Media Player on my PC so do I have to use WMA audio format or could I use FLAC which is a default format on dBAmp.

[PepsiCan]

Re: Audio format

I have Windows Media Player on my PC so do I have to use WMA audio format or could I use FLAC which is a default format on dBAmp.

You could also use Wave, which is uncompressed.

But why the tie in to WMP? You could install any one of a range of players that have better options and support more formats. Foobar2000 is very popular for example.

I think it is more important that you think about what your requirements are and based on those decide the file format and player. For example:
- do you need lossless
- how many songs and do you have storage for that
- which devices will play the songs and what do they support
- will you want a master archive
- what are your metadata requirements

Happy to help further if needed.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Audio format

I have Windows Media Player on my PC so do I have to use WMA audio format or could I use FLAC which is a default format on dBAmp.

In short...no.

I think there are a couple misconceptions in your question. First, digital music players, in order to play a given audio file, must be able to recognize and decode that file's particular format ("codec"). Windows Media Player, like virtually every other player, includes a number of built-in decoders so that it can play a variety of audio file formats. One of those formats is, of course, Microsoft's own WMA. But it can also play may other formats, like .mp3, .wav, .aiff, and lots of others. It doesn't come with a .flac decoder built-in, but there are add-on codec packs that readily add that capability.

Your second misconception is that .flac is dBp's "default" format. It isn't....dBp doesn't have a default format. It comes with many encoders so that users can rip CDs (and convert existing files) to just about any format needed. (Note that there are additional codecs that can be installed, so you have even more options than the many that dBp comes with.)

So again, the bottom line is that you don't have to use WMA files in Windows Media Player, since it supports many other formats. And you don't have to rip to .flac in dBp, since it can easily rip to pretty much any format you prefer. The important thing in selecting a format is ensuring that it's supported by all the players you use.

(Please Note: If you use Windows Media Player on the same computer where you store your audio files, make sure it isn't set to automatically manage and organize your library. It can mess with your tags and album art if you let it.)

[mville]

Re: Audio format

Please Note: If you use Windows Media Player on the same computer where you store your audio files, make sure it isn't set to automatically manage and organize your library. It can mess with your tags and album art if you let it.

Agreed. There is a lot of evidence on these forums where users have allowed Windows Media Player access to their audio libraries and have run into problems. I suggest you do not use Windows Media Player at all, you may regret it if you do.