Convert apple lossless to lower sample rate

charlesl80 wrote:

I have a bunch of songs that I got as Apple lossless 96kHz sample rate. I want to leave these as ALAC but allow them to sync to an iPhone. They will not sync at 96kHz, and since I have other Apple lossless songs at 48kHz that do sync, I am 99% sure the sample rate is the reason.

So, I want to convert these to 48kHz sample rate while keeping them as ALAC. Unfortunately, the only option I have in the iTunes>prefs>import settings is "Import using: Apple lossless" at "Setting: Automatic". If I convert at this setting, it changes nothing. How can I set the sample rate when converting?

Charles,

That is correct. You have discovered a longstanding shortcoming of iTunes support of ALAC. The only choice is "Automatic."

But you have two choices:

1. If you want a lower sample rate version in your library, convert the hi-rez file to AIFF (or WAV), using the "Custom" setting to choose your new sample rate, e.g., 44.1 kHz. Optionally you can then convert the AIFF to ALAC; the two lossless conversions will (supposedly) not damage the audio quality. As you are probably aware, this procedure results in two copies in your library, so make sure you use the more compact one for syncing to the phone.
2. If it is only for the phone, avail yourself of the shrink-n-sync capability (see setting below). This will put more compact AAC versions on the phone while leaving the library copies untouched.

So, if I have a choice of downloading in various formats and I choose 24-bit/96KHz AIFF, will I the be able to play those files on the Mac with iTunes and also create a lossless copy at 24-bit/48KHz for the iPhone?

Alternatively I guess I could transfer the files across and play the original AIFFs in VLC on the iPhone?

Charles,

If it meets your needs, you might also consider Option 2 above. Keep the hi-rez Apple Lossless files in your iTunes library, but use shrink-n-sync to put AAC/256 versions on your phone.

Dave,

Yes you can play those hi-res AIFFs in iTunes.

Not sure about 24/48 on the iPhone; I have seen devices trip on files with other than 44.1 kHz sampling, but there is no harm in trying.