[davidd]

I feel like moving from my MP3's to higher bitrate AAC's (sourced from my FLAC collection of course) and am probably going to use NeroAAC's encoder

but searching the internet isn't giving me a straight answer on whether or not iTunes/iPod will play them gaplessely. some results say they don't, some say they do and I'm not comfortable touching my iTunes library to see for myself yet since I haven't fully committed to this new format yet, so I'm hoping some one else already has tested this?

If not, how good is iTunes' AAC encoder compared to Nero's? I would be using foobar2000 with iTunesencode.exe to do this and not iTunes itself.

Thanks.

 

[srozzman]

import them into itunes, go to song info for everything, and label them as gapless

 

[rain_uk]

I recomend using dBpowerAMP for batch file conversions, it will decode directly from FLAC to M4a Lossless (ALAC) and will keep all tags intact, it will also delete the original files for you if you wish, the only thing I have found is that if album art is stored within a music file that sometimes that needs to be added to the new files afterwards. The program and all required plugins for conversions are free (and its free from nags, popups, hidden spyware & bundleware), what have you got to lose

edit: I usually batch convert 5 or 6 albums at a time, check the tags with a tag editor and then simply move all the files (not folders) into the iTunes directory, then I start iTunes and 'Add Folder to Library' (the iTunes folder) and iTunes sorts them perfectly and collects the album artwork if available. I havn't yet found an easier way, it works for me

oh.. all the files I have converted with dBpowerAMP play as gapless in iTunes and on iPod if desired.

dBpowerAMP supports practically every audio type created: mp3, mp4, m4a (iTunes / iPod), wma, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Monkeys Audio, FLAC, the list goes on....fully compatible with Windows Vista, 98 / ME / NT4 / 2000 and Windows XP.

 

[davidd]

Thanks, but I don't want to convert my FLAC's to another lossless format. I want to convert them to AAC to replace my MP3's for use on my portable players and notebook.

and srozzman, are you sure that would work? because you don;t have to do that with MP3's and iTunes-encoded AAC's for them to be gapless. IIRC correctly that checkbox is only meant for when tracks are in playlists.

 

[rain_uk]

It will convert to any format from any format, and will let you select any quality/bitrate you wish, worth a look? And ticking the gapless box does work, I use it everyday at the moment.. I hope however you decide to do your thing that it goes smoothly

 

[davidd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rain_uk /img/forum/go_quote.gif It will convert to any format from any format, and will let you select any quality/bitrate you wish, worth a look? And ticking the gapless box does work, I use it everyday at the moment.. I hope however you decide to do your thing that it goes smoothly

yeah, I know dbpoweramp will do that, though I don't think you can use Nero's AAC encoder with it, can you? if you can't then I'd still rather use foobar + iTunesencode.exe as I can have foobar automatically create the folder structure I want. or I might just stick with MP3 and just go up some on the bitrate, seems less complicated.

 

[rain_uk]

I have the NeroAAC encoder working with dbpoweramp now, and the files I just tested with are playing gapless in iTunes and also winamp (plugin req). Just a FYI.. dbpoweramp will also use iTunes itself to encode the files for you if you wish (it takes control of iTunes for the encoding).
Which format do you like the sound of better, Mp3 or AAC? I personnaly would choose Mp3 out of the two as I also put music onto my childrens portable players that dont suport AAC, although I think the newer AAC formats (AAC LC, AAC HE, AAC HE v2) can sound better.

 

[davidd]

oh, ok. thanks. Do you know if the iPod's play them gaplessly though? I'd assume the iPod would if iTunes does and that solves this problem.

as for MP3 vs. AAC. I'm not exactly sure which one I like more, though any portable I use would be capable of playing AAC's. I'm really just wanted to use AAC to try something new since I've never really messed with it, and it seems to finally be gaining some support from people other than Apple now like MS and Sony so hopefully others will follow.

 

[rain_uk]

The iPod will definatly play the files as gapless if the files (or complete album or playlist) have been selected as gapless in iTunes before transfering them to the iPod, other players may not need the instruction. Im not impressed with this NeroAAC codec I must say, I have been using these newer AAC Encoders/Decoders for a while with dbpoweramp and im sure they seem to have a sweeter sound somehow.. Anyway back to the grindstone, I have files to convert!