NeoVibe;264165 Wrote: > hello everyone > > I currently use Media Center 12 with a collection mostly made of FLAC > or APE + Cue files (1 audio file per album). > > I will be getting a Squeezebox Duet and want full integration with my > library, so I guess the only real way to do it is switching to iTunes. > > ...BUT, I think the future is with iTunes+ALAC - it's a mainstream > combination with wide hardware support and even audiophile products > support anything Apple. > Oh, and then there's the risk of having to do this switch to > itunes+alac a few years down the road when I would have a LOT of > information on MC12's database that wouldn't be able to transfer to an > itunes library. Would you agree with this line of thought?? > > > So, all of this mean I am seriously considering converting everything > from flac+cue to alac, BUT i want to keep the TAGS. Some of this > information is on MC12's library, and the rest is on the CUE files. > > SO, HOW COULD I GO TO ALAC WITHOUT LOOSING ANY OF THIS INFORMATION > (INCL RATINGS ETC) AND MAKING SURE THE TRANSCODING PROCESS IS > **BIT-PERFECT**?? > > An ALAC encoding plugin for mc12 would be the ideal but haven't found > one... (converting to mp3 with MC12 keeps all this information). > > A couple more questions: > - how should I handle covers ?(currently a folder.jpg file) should > they be 'included' in ALAC files or kept in a separate file? and how > does itunes recognize them? > - and about gapless playback? I assume with ALAC each track would be a > separate file - will they play through the squeezebox gaplessly? (this > is very important for classical music) > >
No reason you can't continue using MC 12 to manage your library and use the Duet Controller to select music to play on the Duet receiver. Or the SC web interface. Or MC2Slim. ALAC is far from widely supported or an industry standard. Try iTunes first before you leap. You'll find that it is very limited compared to MC 12. No Composer pane. No support for a wider variety of tags. Tag editing and format conversion is very limited compared to MC 12. And you won't be able to use the iTunes interface to play music through the Duet receiver. If you use Flac, you can use whatever tags you want in MC 12. Custom or not. iTunes uses only a few tags and in the case of the Composer tag, it doesn't use it fully. I think you are pursuing an abstraction without enough thought about the practical details. You really don't need to change anything right now. bill -- Listener ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Listener's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2508 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42895 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
