Playing .flac files in ITunes

The FLAC and Vorbis components for QuickTime have always been horrible. I hate to sound negative, and I definitely am not negative about FLAC, as 100% of my own music is archived in that format, but I think it would be worth it to wait for native FLAC support in iTunes and QuickTime. Various reports on the Web suggest that Apple has already been testing FLAC with these applications.

If you don't mind excersizing your processor, you could write a script to convert from Flac to Apple Lossless. Recompression is alright, since both formats are lossless. When Flac support is stable, you could convert right on back.

I've used this to convert flac to mp3:
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Audio/MacFLAC.shtml

eMac 700MHz , 17" MBP C2D Mac OS X (10.4.8) 250 gb external lacie HD

You could definitely give Play a try. It's still in Alpha stage, but should prove to be a good alternative for playing FLAC files natively and gaplessly on a Mac.

If it's worth anything, I would not convert FLAC files to Apple Lossless at this point. One of the biggest advantages of FLAC is that, when using proper encoder arguments, it will make sure the output files match the input files, so there is no risk of bad encoding. There have been numerous reports that Apple Lossless files can sometimes be truncated, etc.

You could easily convert your FLACs to Apple Lossless or just about anything else with Max while keeping all the metadata intact, but keep in mind that gapless playback in iTunes can still be hit and miss. If you transcode FLAC to LAME MP3, no problem. However, transcoding FLAC to AAC will NOT result in gapless playback in iTunes. I haven't tested FLAC-to-Apple Lossless for gapless playback in iTunes, but if you're interested in making this kind of conversion, I would test some files for proper playback before deleting your original FLAC files.

Hi All
Similar to Chris...
I would be interested in knowing of any other music organiser/jukebox that is available and recommended instead of iTunes because I am migrating from PC to Mac and a high proportion of my music is in FLAC. I have no desire to convert these files.

I do not own an iPod so I will not be looking to synch with that product. However connected to the PC, via ethernet, I have a QNAP TS101 with Slimserver feeding a Squeezebox for selecting and playing my music files through my HiFi system. Hence the use of FLAC. The music files are stored on the QNAP. On the PC I have been using Media Monkey for ripping/organising/tagging my music. MM does not have a version for OSX so it will have to be dropped sadly.

I appreciate it is possible to run windows on the Mac but that defeats the purpose of migrating.

Thanks in anticipation
Geoff

Makes sense to me Chris.

As I've said my slimserver is on the QNAP along with my music files. I went down this path so that I can run Squeezebox independant of the PC being on or off line. Hence I am looking for a package to replace the MediaMonkey which will handle FLAC in the same way.

I note a couple of packages such as Roxio Toast which claim to rip to FLAC but there seems to be no package to replace iTunes for tagging/organising and playing FLAC.

Its pitiful that iTunes doesn't have a plug-in for FLAC.

I'm afraid I can't help you with regard to Softsqueeze and Slimserver on a PC as my QNAP came with Slimserver fully loaded. Have you tried the Slim Devices forum for help? Or indeed the Slim Devices Tech Support?
( support@slimdevices.com ).
I found them helpful when I was first attempting to set up my Squeezebox via wireless - had serious problems with the wireless network which I couldn't resolve and ended up using Netgear HDBX101 devices (Homeplug).

Geoff

Thanks Chris. I will check it out.