I have a bunch of FLAC files I would like to use in iTunes. What is the best way to do this?
Maybe I am missing something. Once I convert the FLAC to a WAV, drag into iTunes and they will play? Or, drag into iTunes and convert to AAC (lossy).
Wave files will play in iTunes but will be bigger than the FLAC files. Unless you have hard drive space to waste I wouldn't keep them as wav. Either compress to Apple Lossless or lossy AAC.
I cannot for the life of me imagine that there are no free FLAC converters for the WIndows platform. That kind of thing is usually much easier to find for PCs than Macs. You may just have to do it in two steps FLAC --> WAV then WAV-->Apple Lossless (in iTunes). Many of those commercial media converters at best only do maybe one or two things you cannot find in free, open-source converters, or simply repackage the interface
Believe me, I looked. I can do FLAC to WAV for free (FLAC Frontend), but not WAV to ALAC, therin lies the issue.
iTunes Winbdows will not convert WAV to ALAC?
I'd have to look again but I think it will convert to AAC only.
Apple lossless is a lossless format...I bought a 2 TB WD Passport external drive for $79 on newegg, and keep wav files there...It will take years to fill.
My knowledge is AAC is different (lossy) from ALAC (lossless) even though both are M4A extensions.
I really would double check on ALAC and iTunes for Windows. Apple pushes ALAC so much for iTunes that it really would make no sense ot have it on one platform and not the other. I know iTunes Mac won't convert from Windows Media format on a Mac but that's more a matter of lack of the WM codecs on a Mac.
Yes, it's confusing both ALAC and AAC use the same file extension.
Glenn,
My understanding is under iTunes preferences...in the rip CD section is a pull down which offers AAC ALAC etc...once that option is set, clicking a WAV file imported to iTunes library will use that as the default AAC format...works for me iTunes 10.7 under Windows 8.
I see. When I have the WAV, I just drag it into iTunes. Should I be importing when I do that? Currently, I pull the wav's in, right click and convert to AAC.
Glenn,
I don't know, I'm old school with a touch of OCD. I click files > import and choose the folder with all my music.... It imports and I convert to AAC, with apple lossless as my codec. My son drags files into iTunes on his computer, it drives me crazy...I also make sure the iTunes directory is not default, because my boot drive is an 80 gig SSD. So I store my music on my cheap *** 2 TB external connected via USB 3. Hope this helped.
Rich
Yes, that helps. I guess I did not realize that I could convert to ALAC in iTunes. What you say makes sense. I too store my music on an NAS that is 2 TB. Very helpful, thanks!
FLAC Files
