FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

[BCBasketball379]

Can someone please walk me through the process of converting FLAC files (which i can't load on iTunes) to Apple Lossless (so i could put these files on to my iPod). I'm new to this so a step by step process would be helpful.

Thank You.

[LtData]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

1. Install dBpoweramp Music Converter.
2. Install the FLAC and m4a codec and the "m4a utilities" from Codec Central.
3. Follow the instuctions in the m4a file to download the NeroDigitalAudio zip file and follow the instuctions on how to extract it.
4. Right-click on your FLAC files, select "Convert To" and pick Apple Lossless.
5. Right-click on your Apple Lossless files and select "m4a optimize" and check the box to make a hint track.
6. I assume you are using iTunes, so use iTunes to transfer your Apple Lossless files to your iPod.

Note: Some Apple Lossless files will not play on the iPod for some reason, so if the iPod skips your tracks without playing them, this is the reason.

[PigsOnTheWing]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

After using dBpoweramp Music Converter to convert your tracks to Apple Lossless, you might want to have iTunes convert them to Apple Lossless yet again. The (reverse-engineered?) encoder that dBpoweramp is using is apparently not as efficient as Apple's own encoder. You wouldn't believe how much further down some Apple Lossless files will compress after having iTunes convert them again. This should also eliminate any problems with iPods not wanting to play certain dBpoweramp produced Apple Lossless tracks -- as you're now left with brand new files that were produced by iTunes itself.

[eberrong]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

After using dBpoweramp Music Converter to convert your tracks to Apple Lossless, you might want to have iTunes convert them to Apple Lossless yet again. The (reverse-engineered?) encoder that dBpoweramp is using is apparently not as efficient as Apple's own encoder. You wouldn't believe how much further down some Apple Lossless files will compress after having iTunes convert them again. This should also eliminate any problems with iPods not wanting to play certain dBpoweramp produced Apple Lossless tracks -- as you're now left with brand new files that were produced by iTunes itself.

WOW! I tried this and it fixed the iPod skipping every other song issue!! I had originally encoded my Apple Lossless files with an earlier version of db music converter (from FLAC). When itunes re-encodes am I losing any audio quality? I don't hear any loss...is there a way to check (file compare)?

[LtData]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

No, you won't lose any quality going from Lossless to Lossless. Also, this is fixed in the current version of the ALAC encoder for dMC, just re-encode your tracks and you should be fine.

[eberrong]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

No, you won't lose any quality going from Lossless to Lossless. Also, this is fixed in the current version of the ALAC encoder for dMC, just re-encode your tracks and you should be fine.

I tried re-encoding (from original FLAC files) with the current version of dMC and ALAC ENCODER first. Fixed the song skipping, but introduced a new problem. The songs would now cut off on the ipod during the last 10 seconds of each song and skip to the next song.

[ssc]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

No, you won't lose any quality going from Lossless to Lossless. Also, this is fixed in the current version of the ALAC encoder for dMC, just re-encode your tracks and you should be fine.

I take it that this applies (no loss) when using dMC to convert from lossless WMA to FLAC as well, right? Just want to confirm before I blow away my WMA lossless collection after the conversion. =)

Thanks!

/S

[Spoon]

Re: FLAC to Apple Lossless Conversion

Test one file first, yes there is no quality loss wma lossless >> FLAC