Eric Seaberg;285791 Wrote: > If you want to stick to FLAC as your format of choice, that's OK, but > iTunes won't know what it is if you ever want to convert to something > else for your iPod! As far as I'm concerned, lossless is lossless, > whether it's Apple Lossless (ALAC) or FLAC. I prefer to use ALAC > because of the options I mentioned, i.e. iPod access. > > BTW, just because they call it APPLE LOSSLESS doesn't mean they're the > only guys that designed it! The format has MAJOR influence from Dolby > Labs and others, attempting to make it a universal multi-channel codec > (capable of 5.1 surround) that will work into the future. It's not a > codec to skip over "just because" it's from Apple!! > > Now, that being said, you can use MAX (freeware available at > http://sbooth.org/Max/) which also does FLAC and others, but the BEST > thing about iTunes is the EASE OF USE for dealing with tags! I've had > NO issues ripping my library as ALAC for use with Slim and converting > ALAC to a 'lesser format' for iPod playback. It really keeps things > simple.
There's nothing wrong with ALAC as a format, and if you like iTunes then more power to you :) The problem with ALAC is that the format is closed, and Apple aren't licensing the decoder. That means that anyone who wants to play the files (other than Apple) is on shaky legal and technical ground. Witness the problems reported with people who recently updated QT on their Mac - now all of a sudden they can't play ALAC on the SB. That kind of thing isn't going to happen with an open (or at least openly documented) format. -- radish ------------------------------------------------------------------------ radish's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=77 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45595 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
