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FLAC to MP3 320KBPS
- Thread starter AppleDApp
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To transcode (change format and codec) audio files, you can use the following free applications:
- All2MP3
- X Lossless Decoder
- Max
- Fluke - iTunes plug-in to play back FLAC audio in iTunes
I just used XLD yesterday and it worked perfectly. Nice and fast, i converted about 25 albums from FLAC to 320 AAC in just a couple of minutes
Don't use MP3 unless you are forced into it. AAC is much better.
But if you really want to convert XLD is good and pretty fast
Most of my music is already in mp3 so I figured I'd continue and it plays nice with most devices.
I would use 256kbps VBR. Won't seem like you save much space, but once the Gigabytes start piling up, it will matter.
Don't listen to the people who like AAC better. If you use something like the latest LAME encoder (freeware) you will definitely see close to AAC quality at the same bitrate.
Don't listen to the people who like AAC better. If you use something like the latest LAME encoder (freeware) you will definitely see close to AAC quality at the same bitrate.
320 is pointless. If you want to use MP3, use LAME's v0 preset. It's indistinguishable from 320 CBR and takes less space.
And: XLD is the best, for ripping CDs and for batch conversion of FLAC files.
And: XLD is the best, for ripping CDs and for batch conversion of FLAC files.
When you compare MP3 to AAC you can't simply A/B test each for a minute. What you need to do is listen to a hour or more of music and make a note every time you hear an "artifact" these will happen maybe in electronic drum hits or on a synth lead. Then listen to the SAME music using AAC.
The defects in MPS are not constant over time. It will sound good for a long time then some transient will be "way bad" but last for just a faction of a second. It will sound BAD and will be easy to detect. But 99.99% of the music will sound close to the same. MP3 is mostly good but some kinds of sounds it just can't handle. Mustly it does acoustic instruments well but not so well on man-made digital stuu used in some genre. AAC will have far fewer of these transient defects.
This is not some audiophile "voodoo". The sound is obvious and sounds like a defective recording, not subtle at all. When you hear it, you will thing something is wrong like maybe power switch got bumped for millisecond or the headphone jack is loose. These MP3 defects don'r happen on every song, how many depends on the genre and your luck.
Hard disks sell for $100 per terabyte. that works out to about 3 cents per song? Is that so expensive?
OK your iPod has limited storage. So compress the files on the iPod but keep your main collection LOSSLESS.
I understand what you're saying, technically AAC is far superior as a compression format, much newer, etc.
However, my point was that MP3s are more "standard". AAC is getting there as well.
Since the OP has the Lossless sources, he/she could always go back and batch convert his library with AAC once it completely replaces MP3 or whatever comes next.
I know that even with high end audio equipment, I can definitely notice the difference enough that it would actually be better for me to stick to Lossless. However Apple doesn't support FLAC without a 3rd party APP, so I would definitely choose to convert to Apple Lossless instead so I can use it directly with iTunes and any other iOS device that doesn't have a FLAC player installed.
I am sure the OP has thought about the above. I just think that MP3 is a viable option if you don't want it to take too much space especially if you are going to dump your music into a portable player, stream it online to your devices, etc.
I still prefer MP3s, but I do have my Lossless collection (I chose Apple Lossless a while ago) that I ripped sitting on my server, which I can convert to any format and not lose quality. Even have album artwork, ID3 tags, lyrics, etc.
What is the best way to convert to AAC while not compromising to much? Is there an easy/automatic way to get all the Album artwork, tags,and lyrics?