New cd, new Mac mini, new SuperDrive bought for home theater computer and music server. After loading a couple of CDs in ALAC format I noticed they are dropping out briefly. Very similar to when a CD player skips in how it sounds. Any ideas?
Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)
Hi, the Minis seem to have a few glitches, not sure that's it, but...
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.
It was reading bit perfect errors but the issue has happened with bit perfect enabled and disabled. It has also been in different spots in different songs. Meaning the 4th time I ripped the cd was at 1:26 in song 3. The 5th time it was different. I'm on hold with apple care. Surprisingly they have never heard of this issue which is surprising considering what a google search on skipping ALAC files reveals.
I returned the mini. Apple care told me my 4gb of ram was running out of memory causing glitches in loading the large ALAC file. I will probably order the same from apple but with 8gb of ram and upgraded processor. Each are $100. So instead of 800 it will be 1000
You can upgrade the Memory/RAM yourself cheaper...
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=461&type=Memory
Install Video...
Well I already returned it lol! The mini is upgrade able to what maximum ram? 16? I can always re buy.
I'm on another forum and this guy is telling me, rudely, that there is no way the files should skip at all. I am just reporting the symptoms. I know how to import the files and playback. I have no idea what's going on.
Well, in my experience, you have to hold your mouth just right to run something besides OSX in "only" 4 GB of RAM, not sure that was your problem, but I consider it likely... wish you still had it for a bit to try a couple of things to find out before deciding which way to go. 🙂
Yea I got a bit frustrated and only had a few days to return before I was stuck with it. Should I return the SuperDrive too and just go buy from the Mac store instead? 2.3 ghz quad core i7 and 4gb ram should be plenty to rip a cd in apple lossless files. On a side note the CDs are brand new. Unwrapped and directly into the SuperDrive.
I like the Mac store myself, i7 should be good, but 4 GB may or may not suffice, I'd see if you can try those Discs in store, ask them.
Were you using iTunes to rip and playback? There really
should be no issue whatsoever, in theory, with the new Minis.
Personally, I have a 2010 2.4 GHz C2D with only 4gig RAM
with 10.8.2 and my ALAC files play back flawlessly. So, a new
Mini with 4gig should not be problematic. They were however ripped
quite a while back with much older versions of iTunes. So, a new
Mini with 4gig should not be problematic from a hardware standpoint.
Also, I have done 24bit,96kHz rips of LPs and saved in ALAC
and they also have no playback issues.
With all the issues with the latest iTunes, I would think that
ripping/playback with iTunes would be more at fault than the hardware,
although I have not seen any playback issues myself.
I would suggest perhaps trying playback/ripping on something
other than iTunes before blaming the hardware at this point.
This has honestly been my gut feeling all along. I just couldn't see how a brand new quad core and 4 gb of ram would have trouble ripping a cd, lossless or whatever. I feel bad on jumping the gun on returning it. It was a frustration factor. Generally, how long does apple take in fixing an issue like this? Would it help to call back apple care and report on the case we generated in trying to diagnose the issue?
I wish to make a final report of success. I went to the Mac store and picked up the same mini but I left it one iTunes 10.6.3. I ripped a cd in apple lossless and listened to the entire album with no issue.
Good to hear you have had success. iTunes 11 has had
a lot of issues.
Great to hear, thanks for the report! 🙂
Well I thought we had success...I went through 2 CDs ripped in ALAC and they were flawless. The third until halfway through song 7, then the skips and the next song. I have to be totally honest. This is a bit frustrating considering I am a Mac guy. It has me considering returning the second mini and investigating a windows based machine as a home theater music server. I have found evidence of the ALAC files skipping from iPods, to computers clear back to 2004. Seems apple would have fixed this issue by now. Considering I have had 5 conversations with apple care the last week and all had no idea what I was talking about lends to two probabilities. Somehow this issues has gone unnoticed and in that case it would be awhile before any bugs were fixed. Or it has been known and apple has played dumb while they have been unable to fix this issue.
Have you tried any other apps for ripping/playback? Also,
by using any of these apps, try ripping files to FLAC format
instead. This is has been growing in popularity as an alternative
lossless format, especially for cross platform compatability.
Also, have you tried direct rips of the CDs (no compression)?
Does the playback still have issues?
As an alternative to iTunes, give this a try:
My ALAC files are skipping or dropping out during playback. What's the problem?
