How to get iTunes to play FLAC

JRiver should have their Apple version ready soon, it's currently in Beta and by all accounts is already working very well and sounds superb.

JRiver blog and download (you can follow progress there).

The Win version is terrific, better sound than others we've compared to. I will be installing JRiver on my Mac Mini and looking forward to not having to depend on iTunes wonky rules and limited format choices (not to mention bad sound).

JRiver will allow Apple to play FLAC, Apple Lossless, Wav or whatever you have. It's less expensive than Channel D and Amarra, both of which I own and JRivers has an application to operate remote with iPad, iPhone and other devices.

I convert the FLAC files to .WAV files. I can import them into iTunes and play them from there. You can get a free conversion toolkit called xACT, which stands for X Audio Conversion Toolkit. I was downloading FLAC files from HDTracks and converting to WAV files.

I normally use XLD to convert FLAC to AIFF. AIFF is uncompressed lossless like WAV but supports meta data.

You can use apps like PureMusic or AudirvanaPlus which works alongside iTunes and allows you to drag any existing FLAC file to be added to the iTunes library and can be played by iTunes (provided the app is running in the background)

There's FLAC player from Apple store $10

Like the most of folks -- and recognizing that you're not interested in converting to AIFF -- that's what I do.

Depending on how much material you're talking about, it's not a big deal. I use Max, which is free and easy.

Over at Computer Audiophile, they have an instruction video wth commentary here, which I found helpful when getting started.

In short, think your options are to either amend your current setup or convert the files.....