[Skylab]

The easiest way to convert FLAC to ALAC is using dbpoweramp.

 

[opiumden34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hifivoice /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are more aspects to an iPod than SQ only. The 160GB is the most important argument to me. I also like the GUI of the new iPod. And although the SQ is disappointing compared to a 5G, it isn't a disaster (the 3G is much worse for instance). Finally, I have my stereo home equipment as a "backup" for good SQ. Marc

I really cannot stand the new gui. There is less whitespace, but less info on the screen at any given time. I don't use album art, so I'd rather just have more room for text and such. Apple seems to enjoy forcing users to do things their way, as you can't change the gui aspects. Too bad that it's unlikely that there will ever be a rockbox port for it.

 

[Arainach]

....what?

The Album Art view is only on the root menu. Once you go into your library and are browsing around it uses the entire screen just like previous versions.

 

[druelle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif The easiest way to convert FLAC to ALAC is using dbpoweramp.

Be very careful! There's a documented bug with dbPoweramp and the ALAC codec. When you play the converted ALAC files on your iPod some tracks will randomly skip and I found that they weren't gapless. I did a lot of Googling and forum reading and found a great (albeit slower) way to convert from .FLAC to .ALAC:

1) (if you haven't already) Download foobar2000 from here: http://www.foobar2000.org/
1a) Download the ALAC component plugin here: http://www.foobar2000.org/components/foo_input_alac.zip

2) Download "iTunesencode.exe" from here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...howtopic=35242

3) In your foobar2000 settings, go to Preferences --> Tools --> Converter

Encoder: Custom
Encoder: path to iTunesEncode.exe <ex: C:\iTunesencode.exe>
Extension: m4a
Parameters: -e "Lossless Encoder" -a "%artist%" -l "%album%" -t "%title%" -g "%genre%" -y %date% -n %tracknumber% -i %s -o %d -d
Format is: lossless
Highest BPM mode supported: 16
Display name: ALAC

4) Drag the FLAC files into the foobar2000 window, right click and select convert --> convert to... and select the ALAC profile you created earlier. Foobar/iTunes will convert in the background.


The only problem I've encountered is that with a dual-core CPU foobar will try and open 2 encoding tasks simultaneously and it will fail. To get around this,when foobar2000 is running (but not yet converting) go into task manager (ctrl-alt-del) and right click on "foobar2000.exe" --> affinity and only select "CPU 0" This did the trick for me. It seems I have to do this every time I start foobar (the settings don't seem to stick).

EDIT: To permanently set foobar2000 to only use 1 of the cores on a dual-core CPU, download this: http://www.reality-xp.com/support/kn...c/imagecfg.zip and copy it to your foobar directory.

Run cmd.exe then type "imagecfg -a 0x1 foobar2000.exe" It will permanently patch the program to use only 1 core (it alters the file, so be careful if you use this method for other programs)

Let me know if ithis works for you. The converted ALAC files play flawless on my iPod (because they're encoded directly through iTunes).

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by druelle /img/forum/go_quote.gif Be very careful! There's a documented bug with dbPoweramp and the ALAC codec. When you play the converted ALAC files on your iPod some tracks will randomly skip and I found that they weren't gapless. I did a lot of Googling and forum reading and found a great (albeit slower) way to convert from .FLAC to .ALAC: 1) (if you haven't already) Download foobar2000 from here: http://www.foobar2000.org/ 1a) Download the ALAC component plugin here: http://www.foobar2000.org/components/foo_input_alac.zip 2) Download "iTunesencode.exe" from here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...howtopic=35242 3) In your foobar2000 settings, go to Preferences --> Tools --> Converter Encoder: Custom Encoder: path to iTunesEncode.exe <ex: C:\iTunesencode.exe> Extension: m4a Parameters: -e "Lossless Encoder" -a "%artist%" -l "%album%" -t "%title%" -g "%genre%" -y %date% -n %tracknumber% -i %s -o %d -d Format is: lossless Highest BPM mode supported: 16 Display name: ALAC 4) Drag the FLAC files into the foobar2000 window, right click and select convert --> convert to... and select the ALAC profile you created earlier. Foobar/iTunes will convert in the background. The only problem I've encountered is that with a dual-core CPU foobar will try and open 2 encoding tasks simultaneously and it will fail. To get around this,when foobar2000 is running (but not yet converting) go into task manager (ctrl-alt-del) and right click on "foobar2000.exe" --> affinity and only select "CPU 0" This did the trick for me. It seems I have to do this every time I start foobar (the settings don't seem to stick). EDIT: To permanently set foobar2000 to only use 1 of the cores on a dual-core CPU, download this: http://www.reality-xp.com/support/kn...c/imagecfg.zip and copy it to your foobar directory. Run cmd.exe then type "imagecfg -a 0x1 foobar2000.exe" It will permanently patch the program to use only 1 core (it alters the file, so be careful if you use this method for other programs) Let me know if ithis works for you. The converted ALAC files play flawless on my iPod (because they're encoded directly through iTunes).

WoW! Reading your post sent me back to old DOS sytem!

I am very new to the ipod world and I tought that the others brands of mp3 players were the flawed!

Yesterday I started using DBPoweramp Music Converter to get Flac into Alac.
It's OK, painfully manual, can't wait that Easy CD-DA Extractor has the plug-in to apple loossless!

I need to get back to the DBpoweramp and try the other versions, to see if it's more automated.

regards,

 

[Milk and Coffee]

I prefer MAX for easy direct cd-ripping to ALAC ... but only on mac os haha

 

[MartyM]

My experience with the 160GB Classic:

Sound: Petty good overall. Not as nearly as liquid as my iMod though.

UI: This is where it breaks down. The design of the UI is much nicer and more polished than previous generations. It does not, however, work smoothly though. 2-4 seconds lag time to go from one menu to another, or select an album. Frustrating. I keep pictures on my iPods. This feature is almost useless on my Classic. Slide-show works, but when you have 500+ pic in an album and want to show someone certain pics, you don't want to have to watch the whole slide-show. You can't toggle through the pics with the scroll wheel. You can't select pics from the thumbs screen. It just doesn't work. I understand a lot of guys here don't care about anything but the sound, but for me the iPod is an "all in one" solution. Start taking features away from the thing and it takes away the usefulness of the product. The UI was a deal breaker for me. Mine is going back.

 

[opiumden34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MartyM /img/forum/go_quote.gif My experience with the 160GB Classic: Sound: Petty good overall. Not as nearly as liquid as my iMod though. UI: This is where it breaks down. The design of the UI is much nicer and more polished than previous generations. It does not, however, work smoothly though. 2-4 seconds lag time to go from one menu to another, or select an album. Frustrating. I keep pictures on my iPods. This feature is almost useless on my Classic. Slide-show works, but when you have 500+ pic in an album and want to show someone certain pics, you don't want to have to watch the whole slide-show. You can't toggle through the pics with the scroll wheel. You can't select pics from the thumbs screen. It just doesn't work. I understand a lot of guys here don't care about anything but the sound, but for me the iPod is an "all in one" solution. Start taking features away from the thing and it takes away the usefulness of the product. The UI was a deal breaker for me. Mine is going back.

I feel the same way, though I can't return mine from where I purchased it. If there was no lag, and if I could turn off all the album art, it would be fine. No album art? Let's display that gray eighth notes image! hmmm

 

[lonereaction]

MartyM, selecting the thumbnails DO work. But it seems like it works with low res photos only, because only the pictures I took with my phone (3.2Megapix) can be selected. The higher res photos taken by my digital camera (>=5Megapix) show up as blank.

I started a thread about it sometime ago:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=263293

 

[MartyM]

opiumden34 - Yeah, the coverflow, while a great idea, overpowers the Classic. It takes quite some time for the covers to come up on mine.

lonereaction - Maybe my pictures don't work because they were taken with a nice SLR.

 

[druelle]

MartyM & opiumden34: Have you guys both installed the latest firmware update? I've heard some other people say that after they installed it the interface sped up significantly...

 

[cp-Mike]

lonereaction & MartyM, maybe try resizing your pics for display on the iPod? It doesn't make sense to view an 8 megapixel image on a dinky little iPod screen...the iPod is scaling your high-res images way down anyway. You might as well do the scaling in Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever you use. It's super easy to do this in batches as well. Then you're not wasting so much space on your iPod.

 

[MartyM]

cp-mike - I don't have to resize them for the 5.5G. I want hi-rez for looking at them when hooking up to the tv. I have about 700 images and they take up 450 MB. I don't think that's too much space.

 

[cp-Mike]

Nevermind...iTunes automatically resizes your images for you when you put them on your iPod. Unless you have "include full resolution photos" checked, in which case it'd make resized versions for display, and also copy the original file to a different folder on the iPod. Even so, it's pointless to put these full-rez images on there, because not only can no normal iPod dock output to a TV at more than 480i, those high-res versions are never the ones that the iPod displays under any circumstances...having them on your iPod is only useful if you want to view those pictures on another computer through the data connection. So unless you have a HTPC, you won't be able to take advantage of the high-rez photos.

So if you are using iTunes to put your photos on your 6G iPod, there must be a bug that's not resizing them properly. And if you're not using iTunes, well, don't do that.

 

[leng jai]

Do covers only show up in Coverflow if the picture is in the same folder as the music? I've got 80% of my albums covered but when I look at coverflow on my classic only about 10% of them show up.