Mac OS X Music Players - alternatives to iTunes - Page 112

I would use iTunes, but I prefer to rip in FLAC. I also like the re-assurance of having a log file. XD

 

Is there actually anything better about XLD compared to iTunes for CDs in good condition?

Not if you're ripping good condition CD's. If not, Itunes error correction isn't near as good as XLD's.

Well for the record, I do have a few pretty scratched-up CD's (i.e. second-hand/used CD's), so sometimes using EAC for ripping is a good thing.

 

Thanks, good to know.

A new version of Audirvana Plus is out. It fixes the preferences window being out of range of the screen boundaries.

 

And Integer Mode is back.

 

 

On another note, for iTunes 11, does anyone else experience a slow loading time for opening the store upon launching iTunes? It takes about 5-10 seconds for mine to completely load, so my typing gets interrupted when I'm trying to search for an artist in the store when I open it up after launching iTunes.

Edited by miceblue - 12/12/12 at 9:02pm

hi 

 

wondering if you guys can help me out.. im new to headfi and new to the world of good quality music.. i have libraries of 1000s of mp3s that have now become horrid to listen to after i head some real quality music.. 

 

i have a very particular question and need.. 

 

i wish to start a library with solely Wavs 16bit/44.1khz.. im aware of the implications of this but i wish to do it anyway. im currently using itunes for my mp3s

 

i want to rip cds as wavs so i need software to do that, i would also explore the idea of a new player as opposed to iTunes. i would also like to create tags for my wavs so they are identifiable. i understand dbpoweramp can do something like this but it is not available on the mac platform.

 

if there is a stand alone app that can do this then that would be great.. 

 

any ideas??

 

Hello. Suggest you read through the thread for detail on players. iTunes can readily rip and tag your CDs into lossless ALAC format. Purists prefer open source but ALAC works for me.

You can set iTunes to auto rip, tag get artwork and eject your CD when done. I just put in a new disk each time I walk past. I would suggest a quick disk clean to avoid skipping type errors on your rips.

Good luck.

Best

James

Thanks for the fast reply.

My biggest concern in tagging. I understand that id3 tagging does not work with wav.. But dbpoweramp does offer a compatible tagging. I don't know the tech details but I'm going on what Iv already read.

Can Alac be easily converted to wav?

Thanks

I use Max to convert all my tracks into whatever i need the format to do. It's quick and really easy. You can convert WAV to AIFF which is the same but iTunes will be able to read it and it holds as much tag information as you want it too

Alac can be converted back to wav without any loss yes. But if you want an uncompressed Mac format you'd better get AIFF, same as wav but with tagging infoin the file. Not all the info though if I remember correctly but most of it. Alac holds all the info in the file but it's losslesss compressed as opposed to uncompressed. Same SQ though, it's lossless after all.

Right. I understand a little better now. I want to purchase the tera player and that only supports wav so ideally I would want all my files to be the same format as I can imagine it can get confusing aswell as using up too much memory I.e having separate libraries for separate formats

 

I know the feeling. 

I tried to go with a NAS and use a network Dac. None of those seem to be able to handle ALAC or AIFF, only WAV, FLAC, MP3 and sometimes AAC. Some companies promised ALAC support but didn't come through and blamed it on licenses. Now ALAC is open source they still don't keep their promise.

 

I then started to define my priorities: top quality (thus uncompressed or lossless), iTunes compatible (since I use Macs and iStuff only and iTunes is my library as well as player, with the aid of "BitPerfect") and all metadata contained inside the file. That leaves me with the choices of ALAC or AIFF with the occasional AAC from the iTunes store.

 

I decided any Dac or Network player (or in your case portable player which I believe the TERA is) should serve my needs and play those file types, not the other way around, I'm not prepared to use a different file type so a player can play them.

Not the easiest way I can tell you, which is how I came to the following solution/setup:

 

Living room:

A Mac Mini that serves as a media server with a Thunderbolt RAID to hold my media (iTunes Library, audio and video).

It is connected to a Dac via USB to play up to 192/32 music. from there it goes to an amp with stereo speakers. 

It is also connected to a surround receiver to play video (downloaded, DVD rips, Bluray rips) with surround speakers.

Controlled with an iPad (or iPod if you want smaller). Control with the iPad, KB and mouse or Apple Remote via TV screen is also possible. I have various apps on the iPad to control the way I want depending on what I want to do or how I feel like doing it at the time, for example one that replaces a keyboard, trackpad and remote all in one app, one that simply offers screen sharing, one that shows iTunes, and some others to control video or control my amp/dac/surround.

 

Office:

An iMac that connects to the iTunes Library on the TB drive of the Mac Mini via Ethernet (WiFi also possible).

This one is connected to a Dac via USB, again capable of up to 192/24.

Dac connects to speaker amp with speakers and HP amp with phones.

Since I'm at my desk I usually control straight via the iMac but the iPad/Pod/Phone is possible as well.

 

 

This gives me top quality and allows me to use iTunes. On the go I simply use an iPod or my iPhone.

I use iTunes with Audio Hijack Pro. Pretty much all I need since iTunes plays ALAC. I convert FLAC files with XLD (http://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html), it does a wonderful job, and inherits  the ID3 tags as along as you are converting into ALAC. 

 

The only issue I have right now is storage. I'm on a 500GB SSD, and using up a large percentage of my HD just for music isn't very appealing. AppleheadMay posted a great solution, though. I'll be doing the same thing with my music collection.

 

Cheers!