Automator workflow to convert FLAC files

[franzfudd]

I have all my music in one folder. There are sub-folders by band name and they contain MP3 & FLAC files.

Can someone help me identify all my FLAC files in a whole bunch of the sub folders and move them to a separate folder so I can convert to AAC.

Better still if I dont have to move them that would be even better. I'm new to Automator and I've never created a smart folder in my life.

thanks in advance

Franz

 

[GGJstudios]

I have all my music in one folder. There are sub-folders by band name and they contain MP3 & FLAC files.

Can someone help me identify all my FLAC files in a whole bunch of the sub folders and move them to a separate folder so I can convert to AAC.

Better still if I dont have to move them that would be even better. I'm new to Automator and I've never created a smart folder in my life.

You don't need to move them to convert them, and you don't need Automator or smart folders.

1. Install Max
2. Go to Max > Preferences > Formats and configure your preferred output format, such as AAC.
3. Go to Max > Preferences > Output > Locations and select "Output files: Same as source file"
4. Close Preferences and click File > Convert Files (click Cancel if prompted to select a file.) That will leave you with a File Conversion window open.
5. Now use Finder and search for all files with a .flac extension.
6. Select all files in the search results (Command-A) and then drag them from Finder to the Max window.
7. Let 'er rip! Max will create AAC files and put them in the same folder as the original files.
8. When you've checked the new files and are satisfied with the results, select all .flac files from your Finder search and delete them.

You haven't mentioned if you use iTunes or not. How you go about deleting and adding the files may differ, depending on if you use iTunes and how it's configured. If you need help with that, let me know.

 

[dumb]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

how about search from finder using *.flac which will find all your flac files, then you can move it to a temp folder where you will convert to AAC. Later when you import those AAC itines will automatically organize based on artist/album.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

oops pretty much the same thing as previous poster. sorry tldr the first time

 

[GGJstudios]

how about search from finder using *.flac which will find all your flac files, then you can move it to a temp folder where you will convert to AAC.

The point is you don't have to move them to convert them. You can convert them where they are.

 

[franzfudd]

You haven't mentioned if you use iTunes or not. How you go about deleting and adding the files may differ, depending on if you use iTunes and how it's configured. If you need help with that, let me know.

Yes the entire exercise is so I can prepare for iTunes Match.

Thanks for you reply: The issue I'm having problems with is "Now use Finder and search for all files with a .flac extension."

All the flac files are in sub directory's Example: Music/Artist/Album/*.flac

I need to filter for flac at the 'music' level

 

[GGJstudios]

Yes the entire exercise is so I can prepare for iTunes Match.

Thanks for you reply: The issue I'm having problems with is "Now use Finder and search for all files with a .flac extension."

All the flac files are in sub directory's Example: Music/Artist/Album/*.flac

I need to filter for flac at the 'music' level

1. Navigate to the Music folder in Finder
2. Put a single space in the search field
3. Click on Music instead of "This Mac" to restrict your search to that folder
4. Click the + under the search term to add search criteria
5. Select File Extension (by first going to "Other") from the list of search fields
6. Enter flac as the desired extension

​

 

[armadiljo]

I don't think I really need to open a new tread, my 'problem' is about the same.

I do understand the given solutions. They work great, I do exactly this with xACT/iTunes.

But I'm looking for a way to automate this process.

INPUT: New .flac in a folder named "/Users/username/Music/FLAC", in different folders. I want an automated process that keeps an eye on this folder, and processes the newly added files.

OUTPUT:
1) .m4a-files, organised by iTunes. (aac - cbr - 256kbps)
2) .flac-files archived in a standarized way.

So divided into seperated tasks, what I want is some script/automation that
- scans for new folders/files in the flac-folder
- converts them into the propre aac-format
- clean .cue/.m3u/.txt-files from this folder
- adds them to the iTunes-library (iTunes is already configured to copy/rename/organise her files).
- it would be great if all this can happen without any interaction (so in the background)

Any idea how this can be done?

EDIT: by all means... I'm not using Lion, but Mountain Lion. I'm put my question in the appropriate place.

 

[djscouserboy]

You don't need to move them to convert them, and you don't need Automator or smart folders.

1. Install Max
2. Go to Max > Preferences > Formats and configure your preferred output format, such as AAC.
3. Go to Max > Preferences > Output > Locations and select "Output files: Same as source file"
4. Close Preferences and click File > Convert Files (click Cancel if prompted to select a file.) That will leave you with a File Conversion window open.
5. Now use Finder and search for all files with a .flac extension.
6. Select all files in the search results (Command-A) and then drag them from Finder to the Max window.
7. Let 'er rip! Max will create AAC files and put them in the same folder as the original files.
8. When you've checked the new files and are satisfied with the results, select all .flac files from your Finder search and delete them.

You haven't mentioned if you use iTunes or not. How you go about deleting and adding the files may differ, depending on if you use iTunes and how it's configured. If you need help with that, let me know.

*********

Even 7 years on, this advice has found me exactly what I need and which will save me hours and hours of work ... well done and thanks a lot!

 

[MacUser2525]

*********

Even 7 years on, this advice has found me exactly what I need and which will save me hours and hours of work ... well done and thanks a lot!

I will get on the necro posting bandwagon too. Give XLD a try as well it is a great little program for doing exactly this with drag and drop conversion automatically renaming files based on meta data. Oh and is actually maintained and updated with new versions, not 10 old abandonware...

https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html