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iTunes match + ALAC (Setup help)

B

bp1000

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
1,476
185
Music is v.important to me, as is the way it sounds. Most of my listening at home it done using a quality valve amp, cd and speakers.

CDs are taking over, I'm terrible at organising them and i want to switch to a computer solution.

How about ripping most of my cds to ALAC on an external HDD.

Here's the question, if i do this with iTunes match, would all my devices (mac/ipad/iphone) all get the 256k streamed files? But could i still stream the ALAC from iTunes to airport express to DAC to valve amp?


Or would there be any other way of stream lossless music to my valve amp yet making use of the same music for iTunes match. As i don't want large lossless music on my portable devices.

thanks
 
R

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,348
2,030
iTunes Match is strictly for 256k AAC files. If you upload ALAC to it, it'll stream 256k files, but you can still play the ALAC on your home computer.
 
zhenya

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
Razeus said:
iTunes Match is strictly for 256k AAC files. If you upload ALAC to it, it'll stream 256k files, but you can still play the ALAC on your home computer.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. If you have files that are not Matched, they will be uploaded to Apple's servers at whatever bitrate you have them in (if they are MP3 format). ALAC files that need to be uploaded will have a version converted to 256k by your local computer before uploading.

Otherwise bp1000 you should definitely convert your library. I would suggest ripping with XLD rather than with iTunes as XLD has far better error detection and correction, and will check your rips against the AccurateRip database.

May I also suggest you look into an Airport Express for streaming your music library to your listening rig without having to keep a computer in the room? Very slick device, especially when paired with an iPad as a remote control. :)

There are now two ways to keep your iTunes library at home in lossless and have smaller files on your portable devices. iTunes Match is one, and this will give you 256k files, but you have to download them to the device while listening. You can also use the option in iTunes to convert your music to 128k before syncing.
 
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