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Transfering CDs to iTunes FLAC. Am I missing....?

I intend to use a Slim Devices Transporter as my new digital source and I want to make sure I'm setting up my digital music files properly. I've started 'importing' all my CDs via iTunes and have the file format import setting set to FLAC and with error correction turned on. Am I on the right track, or am I missing something?

I want to make sure that I'm transferring all my music to my 500gb hard drive in optimal format. I'll likely copy all the files to a second drive as a backup.

I had considered using EAC, but so far this iTunes process of importing is so easy and user-friendly, and iTunes seems like a good interface for organizing too.

Anyways, any advice from folks who've gone down this path is much appreciated. Thanks,
John
128x128outlier
sufentanil's avatar
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sufentanil
782 posts
 
In my opinion, FLAC is the ideal lossless format for as Slim Devices product, since it's natively decoded by the unit.

How did you get iTunes to rip into FLAC? On my Mac, with my iTunes 7.6, going to iTunes-->Preferences-->Advanced-->Importing, I only see the option of AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, and WAV.

iTunes should function well as your music organizer, and also works with the slimserver software.

Good luck,

Michael
ejresch
13 posts
 
John, I have over 1300 albums in FLAC format on a hard drive, and if you've found a way to import to FLAC using iTunes, please share! I'm using iTunes version 7.6 as well and there's no choice for importing to FLAC on my PC. Are you sure you didn't choose Apple Lossless format?

I used EAC to extract from discs and use Foobar 2000 as a player and there were many growing pains learning the programming language to get all the files tagged correctly, but it was worth it. Good choice on the FLAC format for sound quality. My only advice, if you have a large library, is test, test, test before doing the whole shot. Compilation discs, soundtracks, musicals and classical discs can import with some unexpected results for file names, artist/composer names and folder structures. Good luck.
outlier's avatar
outlier OP
381 posts
 
Guys - thanks so much for the info. Argh, I guess i'm dumber than I thought. I somehow assumed Apple Lossless was FLAC...don't know why. Darn, I don't know when this stuff needs to be so difficult...;-) Is Apple Lossless not as good a format then? I definitely want to use the best format I can for archiving my music. Also, I intend to use the new Slim Devices controller for accessing and selecting music on the fly as I walk around the house.

So, it sounds like I have to jump through some serious hoops to get everyhing organized on FLAC on my Windows machine...Would things be easier if I bough a Mac Mini - perhaps avoiding any of that Foobar stuff...

Any links you might have on guidance for the process would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
John
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