FLAC files via MCE

[U187146]

Help I'm stuck.

Decided to rip CDs using FLAC lossless format for CD quality archiving. Would like to access via MCE interface, but they do not show up. Using FLAC Front End to encode (using Ogg FLAC as native FLAC wouldn't play under WMP). Any ideas ? At this rate I will end up having to revert to Windows Lossless which I didn't ideally want to do.

Has anyone managed to do this yet ?

Thanks.

[Pbryanw]

Here try this link, which says you can't:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...ssageid=125388

If you want to have a go try this link:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...15379#bm115511

And to get the directshow filter:

http://www.illiminable.com/ogg/ or http://corecodec.org/projects/coreflac

Val

[WheresMyArtisan]

Have never had a problem with wma lossless myself.

[springtide]

Originally Posted by U187146

Help I'm stuck.

Decided to rip CDs using FLAC lossless format for CD quality archiving. Would like to access via MCE interface, but they do not show up. Using FLAC Front End to encode (using Ogg FLAC as native FLAC wouldn't play under WMP). Any ideas ? At this rate I will end up having to revert to Windows Lossless which I didn't ideally want to do.

Has anyone managed to do this yet ?

Thanks.

Just convert the files to WMA lossless and be done with it. You're are making life hard for yourself !

What are people's issue with WMA Lossless anyway? It's proprietary? Most of MCE is proprietary anyway. As they are both lossless formats - there is no difference in audio quality regardless what codec gets used ! (whether Windows adds "bits" after it's gone through the codec is another matter, but this is regardless of the original audio format)

Buy into Microsoft and life gets much easier. Life is too short.

[dejongj]

Spot on Springtide...I use WMA lossless and it makes life very easy...

[Slinkoff]

I use FLAC for archiving because I don't want a proprietry format because my digital collection is replacing my CDs permanently, as in forever, and I wouldn't want CDs that I could only play on certain CD players any more than I would want my entire music collection that took me over a year to rip restricted to Microsoft. Who knows what will be happening in 5, 10, 20 years time? Ripping music on that scale is not something I ever want to do again.

For MCE I convert from my FLAC to high-quality MP3. I've done countless listening tests and can't discern a difference on a whole range of equipment so I'm completely happy with them. I'm not an audiophile though so that might just be me.

[U187146]

Bugger it - life is too short. WMA Lossless it is. I'll box the CDs just in case...

[springtide]

Originally Posted by Slinkoff

I use FLAC for archiving because I don't want a proprietry format because my digital collection is replacing my CDs permanently, as in forever, and I wouldn't want CDs that I could only play on certain CD players any more than I would want my entire music collection that took me over a year to rip restricted to Microsoft. Who knows what will be happening in 5, 10, 20 years time? Ripping music on that scale is not something I ever want to do again.

For MCE I convert from my FLAC to high-quality MP3. I've done countless listening tests and can't discern a difference on a whole range of equipment so I'm completely happy with them. I'm not an audiophile though so that might just be me.

IMO....Edited... not to get any FLAC or get the OGG beaten out of me...

I'd put my bets on that in 10 or 20 years time Microsoft will still have an application to read and convert WMA files.

....while and FLAC and OGG will have been replaced with a higher quality format and no longer supported by any application.

OK, maybe not. But there's nothing saying why a non proprietary format should outlast a proprietary format.

As long as the files are lossless, then there's no loss in quality in converting the files - and there will always be tools to convert files "from" and "to" the MS standards. Whatever format you record the files in now, you'll probably have to re-encode them again every 5-10 years anyway.

...to be honest, in 10 or 20 years time we'll all have subscription music services to unlimited amounts of ultra high quality music anytime,any place anywhere.

I'm a fan of AAC Lossless myself - yes, the mpeg4 non-proprietary standard format that has been taken up by.... Apple and only Apple by the looks of it - with regards to music players! Still using mp3 for the time being until storage increases (both Hard Drives as well as "backup" media) so that I can go lossless. Not looking forward to having to enclode the CD's again, but that's life.

[dejongj]

And besides, the CD itself has got the lossless copy on it as well hasn't it? I think life is too much fun to start speculating whether you can read a format in 20 years time....Come on, get real....Besides it will all sound like crap by then anyway

[Slinkoff]

Sorry, I just hate anything proprietry on principle because it restricts my choice, I also started using FLAC a while before WMALossless appeared so there was no point switching. But with lossless it's all reversible anyway so the choice isn't really a major one.

I think we're likely to see a lot more high-capacity DAPs emerging in the next few years which are more likely to support an open-source format like FLAC rather than something like WMALossless, but again, if there was a piece of audio equipment that supported FLAC but not WMALossless you could always decode and then re-encode, tis the beauty of the lossless formats.

[Barbarosa]

You could switch to Media Portal!

[Cable Monkey]

I went FLAC and have archived my entire cd collection to HDD. I looked at quality as the over riding factor, space as a distant second. I don't see any issues with future use of these files as I can convert them to any future format with no loss of quality, and most importantly with no DRM applied. I think rather than tie ourselves into the Microsoft/Sony/whoever way of doing things, we should be considering open source more and more.

[bashtage]

Originally Posted by springtide

IMO....Edited... not to get any FLAC or get the OGG beaten out of me...

I'm a fan of AAC Lossless myself - yes, the mpeg4 non-proprietary standard format that has been taken up by.... Apple and only Apple by the looks of it - with regards to music players!

Mpeg4 is proprietary. The MPLA regulates the property rights for it.

[dejongj]

Whilst I agree with opensource, and tried that route many a time over the years...It is just not there in general, especially when it comes down to user friendliness and interoperability....

Sure if MCE supported FLAC I would be using it, but that's academic as it doesn't...I've tried the opensource alternatives like Mediaportal and Xlobby, but they are just not quite there...And the moment they are, it will go commercial....

I don't understand this thing against proprietary...I mean CD is proprietary, cars are, drugs are, so why is Microsoft evil and the others aren't? And considering FLAC isn't supported by many applications, let alone any hardware devices, doesn't that make it proprietary?

[Cable Monkey]

I suppose in hindsight, this being an MCE forum, my comments were probably a tad off topic. I would argue though that MP3 is proprietry. WMA is Microsofts format, no one can use it without permission, no one else can change it, period. To me that is not proprietry, no matter how 'popular' it is. Perhaps I am just resistant to the principle of being railroaded down one path.