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Apple Lossless to WAV Lossless & iTunes 8, Can't Choose Bit Rate Anymore

post #1 of 14
9/15/08 at 10:40am
Thread Starter 
Hello All,
I have a question and a problem.
First, the question.
I'm thinking about converting my entire Apple Lossless music collection into a WAV format, or something that is accepted on more portable players than just iPods. Do you recommend converting all my Apple Lossless to WAV (or lossless mp3 if it's possible)? Or is it better to re-rip all my CD's? I'm hoping I can just convert them, because re-ripping would take an eternity (100GB of music in Apple Lossless).

Problem with iTunes 8:
Has anyone else noticed you can't choose the bit rate in which you import your music anymore? I went to rip a CD this morning and the box is gone! Or am I having a brain-fart and don't remember where it is?

Here's a screenshot of where I remember the setting being:

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post #2 of 14
9/15/08 at 10:42am
You don't pick bitrate in wave (or aiff, which is wave + tagging). It's bit rate is what it is. Never could. Bit rate is only for lossy compression schemes.
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post #3 of 14
9/15/08 at 10:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by grawk View Post
You don't pick bitrate in wave (or aiff, which is wave + tagging). It's bit rate is what it is. Never could. Bit rate is only for lossy compression schemes.
I was importing an audio book, that's why I have to switch back and forth.
But in the past there used to be a drop-down option where you can choose the format you want to import in (mp3, ACC, etc) and the bit rate (for example, I used 96kbps for audiobooks)...or something to that effect, I can't remember now that it's gone.
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post #4 of 14
9/15/08 at 11:03am
you could look for a similar tab but it's now in:

General

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post #5 of 14
9/15/08 at 11:05am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by [L]es View Post
you could look for a similar tab but it's now in:
Many thank you's! Found it.

Now for my other question, is it recommended to convert Apple Lossless to WAV or another Lossless format? Or should I re-rip everything?
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post #6 of 14
9/15/08 at 11:23am
you're welcome.. i try my best to give a good answer

how about just converting when you need to ?
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post #7 of 14
9/15/08 at 11:33am
Apple lossless doesnt play on my FooBar...

thats why i am going try re-rip for FLAC as well.


Two 2 big Disadvantage of WAV:

Very Big file size as Zero compression is applied
No ID3 Tags support.
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post #8 of 14
9/15/08 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nocturnal310 View Post
Apple lossless doesnt play on my FooBar...

thats why i am going try re-rip for FLAC as well.


Two 2 big Disadvantage of WAV:

Very Big file size as Zero compression is applied
No ID3 Tags support.
I still want to use the music on my iPod. That's why I was thinking about going to WAV. Is there a lossless version of mp3's?
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post #9 of 14
9/15/08 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nickknutson View Post
I still want to use the music on my iPod. That's why I was thinking about going to WAV. Is there a lossless version of mp3's?
Impractical at best, for the reasons already cited. You'd need tons of storage capacity (which ipod do you have?), you'd really be chewing up oodles of battery life, and, depending on your headphones, probably receive only incremental audio quality benefit (ever hear of the law of diminishing returns?).

As for your question, mp3 is a lossy format. So, no--by definition. I would recommend re-ripping, or converting if more expedient, to 320 kbps for your ipod. I think you'll be quite happy with that.
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post #10 of 14
9/15/08 at 2:05pm
i wouldn't bother reripping. just convert your files to whatever you want to convert them to. there should be no quality loss at all if you're going between lossless, and converting to mp3 will yield the same results as ripping the cd as mp3.

also i should point out that the itunes mp3 encoder is kinda crappy. it would be preferable to convert to aac for the ipod, or use a different program to convert to mp3 if you don't want to use aac.
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post #11 of 14
9/18/08 at 5:11pm
1. Just decode from Apple Lossless to WAV. The result will (or should) be the same as ripping straight to WAV from CD.
2. The import settings have changed location in iTunes 8. Look in the "General" tab...
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post #12 of 14
9/21/08 at 2:09pm
ALAC does play in Foobar, you just have to get a tiny decoder file for its component folder.

Keep in mind that wav can't store tag information too OP.
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post #13 of 14
9/22/08 at 12:11pm
Apple Lossless does play on Foobar. Just go to the "optional component" download section, and download the "ALAC input" component. Unzip it, and put the DLL in the "components" folder in your foobar2000 directory. Then you can add your iTunes music folder to Foobar2000 and play them directly from there.

Remember that iTunes keeps the album art in a separate folder which will not be used by Foobar, and only files with embedded art will show up.

Perhaps someone knows how to get Foobar to use the album art stored in the iTunes folders?
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post #14 of 14
9/22/08 at 3:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bones13 View Post
Remember that iTunes keeps the album art in a separate folder which will not be used by Foobar, and only files with embedded art will show up.
So embed the album art in the ALAC files then.
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