Playing FLAC files in iTunes with Windows 7 OS.....is it possible?

Just would like to disagreee with my friend John on a few points.

For iOS devices, there are several apps that will play FLAC. Here is one example.

It is true that ALAC is now open source, but outside of Apple-land, it is far less accepted that FLAC. Although you can find non-Apple players to play ALAC, many audio editors, burning programs, etc will take FLAC but not ALAC.

In music retailing, FLAC is fairly common, and ALAC is almost unheard of. Even Apple does not sell songs in ALAC format.

ed2345 wrote:

Just would like to disagreee with my friend John on a few points.

For iOS devices, there are several apps that will play FLAC. Here is one example.

It is true that ALAC is now open source, but outside of Apple-land, it is far less accepted that FLAC. Although you can find non-Apple players to play ALAC, many audio editors, burning programs, etc will take FLAC but not ALAC.

In music retailing, FLAC is fairly common, and ALAC is almost unheard of. Even Apple does not sell songs in ALAC format.

Late to the party, but... the App description says it is compatible with iPod Touch. Does it mean what I think it means? Could I finally play FLAC files on my iPod with this?

that was my alias wrote:

I see you noticed my overuse of italics. 😝 I am still wondering what is keeping Apple from doing something that will only make people happy. I seriously cannot think how allowing iPods and iTunes to play FLAC would upset anyone.

• Supposedly the process of decompressing ALAC files is slightly less demanding than decompressing FLAC files and this means playing ALAC files uses less battery power than FLAC would
• FLAC being an independent open-source standard not linked to any (rich) company has not been subjected to attacks by patent trolls, if Apple started using it however then it might suddenly get bombarded by patent attacks
• ALAC is identical quality, already exists so why bother
• ALAC is now open-source also so everyone else can use it as well
• ALAC is arguably already more widely supported in software/hardware as it can be played by WMP, VLC, WinAmp, dbPowerAmp, Monkey2000, XBMC, Plex, iTunes, Sonos, Squeezebox, etc. etc. etc.
• Originally it might have been a form of lockin but this no longer applies

There is a complicated means of getting iTunes for Mac to play FLAC files but nothing I am aware of for iTunes for Windows, plus of course no Apple iOS devices support FLAC.

You will be far better off converting your FLAC files to ALAC (aka. Apple Lossless). This is exactly the same lossless quality as FLAC and can be played in all of the following plus I suspect many others.

dbPowerAmp

WinAmp

Foobar2000

VLC

Windows Media Player

Microsoft Media Center

XBMC

iTunes for Windows (duh! 😉)

You can use (amongst others) dBpowerAmp to convert (with tags) from FLAC to Apple Lossless.

Remember these days Apple Lossless is also open-source so past arguments against it no longer apply.

Palying FLAC in iTunes without changing FLAC files to the other file format is not so easy. As we all know that iTunes does not support FLAC files at all. It is a little hard to directly import and add FLAC to iTunes. It will be quite easier if you choose to change the file format of FLAC files to another file format.

A small app called FLUKE will allow you to add and play FLAC files to iTunes on your computer. (you still will need a FLAC playing app for other devices you sync with iTunes though)

http://code.google.com/p/flukeformac/

After installing Fluke you need to go to your iTunes app, right click and choose "get info" and then tick the box that says "open in 32 bit mode".

Then any FLAC files you want to add highlight and right click and when you choose "open with" you'll see an icon for Fluke to choose. After you've done that, those files can now be added to iTunes like any other compatible audio files.

Only Only 16bit/44.1KHz are guaranteed to play smoothly, but that covers most FLAC files.

FLUKE is for Macs and this is the iTunes for Windows forum. And the FLUKE project was abandoned back in 2009 any may have compatibility problems with the most recent versions of iTunes and OS X, though it may work. Just FYI for anyone reading.

Regards.

Truth be told, playing Flac files in iTunes on Windows 7 without changing its format could be a daunting task. You'd better convert the Flac files to other formats that supported by iTunes. Check here for converting flac files.

And if you want to play Flac files on iOS devices, here are some apps for you to choose from, but it could be a little pricey. Just take your pick and give it a try!

There are actually a ton of apps that will let you play FLAC on your ipod/iphone, even the free VLC app supports FLAC.

A few of the others I'm aware of but I'm sure there's more:

Capriccio

AcePlayer

Buzz Player

TuneShell

Golden Ear

Firstly, playing Flac in iTunes is an altogether different animal than playing them on your iOS device and is something you never asked about. For that you'll need to Google "Fluke FLAC" if you're still running Lion or older. If you're running a newer Mac OS I haven't yet heard of a solution for playing FLAC in iTunes and you'll have to resort to a third party app like Vox.

For most FLAC playing iOS apps you'll add your music files via the "file sharing" section at the bottom of your Apps tab in iTunes when your iPod touch is plugged in.

As for Flac Player specifically the high price coupled with some reported problems I heard when looking into it had me steering clear so I can't offer first hand reports on THAT program.

Since it sounds like you've been longing to play FLAC on your iPod touch for quite some time I was simply offering a bevvy of options to do just that I know of, including some free ones.

Hopefully someone will stumble across this thread and chime in with feedback about THAT app specifically for you. 🙂

I see you noticed my overuse of italics. 😝 I am still wondering what is keeping Apple from doing something that will only make people happy. I seriously cannot think how allowing iPods and iTunes to play FLAC would upset anyone.

that was my alias wrote:

I see you noticed my overuse of italics. 😝 I am still wondering what is keeping Apple from doing something that will only make people happy. I seriously cannot think how allowing iPods and iTunes to play FLAC would upset anyone.

The fact that FLAC is the lossless format of choice for the music piracy community means that the sellers of digital music will not ever be particularly keen to support it.

NuMystic wrote:

The fact that FLAC is the lossless format of choice for the music piracy community means that the sellers of digital music will not ever be particularly keen to support it.

Incorrect! Bandcamp, my official digital music source of choice, allows both FLAC and ALAC. And how will supporting FLAC will support piracy? Poppycock.

iTunes is not the sole option. There are alternate players. That play FLAC. And people are always free to choose those players instead. To not slowly lose their audience, Apple must update their product with new features and compatibilities. I use iTunes now, but I may not be using it tomorrow.

I never suggested that FLAC is not used and supported in countless other arenas but that does not change the fact tht it IS indeed the losslees format of choice for the enormous piracy community.

If you want to engage in a debate about what Apple should or shouldn't be doing to "not slowly lose their audience" please take it elsewhere as this is a technical support forum thread.

If you have any further technical questions, the kind that others may benefit from the answers to when searching, I'm sure folks will be happy to chime in and help.

The best FLAC player at the moment is JRIVER media-center on PC, MAC and almost on Linux. It's the only one that plays any audio-format and does any audio-convertion without hickups.😉 And it supports synchronising with IPad & Iphone.