Originally Posted by
schmidj
Gary, he has one issue that may force him to .wav files. At least some of the radio broadcast automation systems only play .wav files, or mp3 and wav, or something like mp2 and wav. The system at the radio station I'm Chief Engineer of is like that, it won't deal with FLAC or even m4a. and it is one of the most common systems. In fact we used the same system at ABC TV before I retired. I've talked to them about adding codecs, and gotten nowhere. Stations choose automation systems because of their ability to play according to schedule and the user interface, not because of the file formats they do or don't support. So it is likely he is stuck with .wav. Yes, he could rip to FLAC and then convert to .wav, but that is double work. Also, most of these systems don't use tags, they use serial number file names and have a database that is separate with the metadata (and a lot of metadata needed for smooth automation, like kill dates, segue times, etc.) A lot of the files aren't music, they are commercials, newscasts, station IDs , etc. Most of those systems allow bulk entry to the database via Excel, hence his spreadsheet. The base software for these automation systems long predates FLAC or metadata stored in files. Its a whole different world from home music playback.
I am not sure if this is what drives the direction he is going, but I wouldn't be surprised. If he is using one of these automation systems, he even has to make sure it will play a .wav file with embedded metadata cleanly, that it doesn't think the metadata is part of the audio and output a burst of noise.