iTunes, SB3 and FLAC

[DLau]

I have an iPod with about 20gb worth of music in iTunes. I have just purchased a Squeezebox3 with a view to streaming music from my PC to the main Hifi system.

It seems FLAC will give me a better sound quality but I need to convert my iTunes in AAC format to FLAC which has has been indicated would take significant time for 20gb's worth? also would the track, artist information be converted as well?

What is the best tool for conversion (my library is imported CD's not brought off iTunes) ?

Secondly it also appears I would then need a decent media player on the PC to play the FLAC format and stream/work to the SB3, any recommendations?

Would the sound quality be significantly better on FLAC than AAC to justify this hassle and also having to maintian two libraries moving forward (AAC and FLAC) or should I just run with iTunes?

For note my main HiFi system is pretty decent, Denon AVC A1XV and B&W speakers.

Thanks
Darren

[Uridium]

It would be pointless converting to FLAC (a lossless codec) from AAC (A Lossy codec) as in ripping your CD's to AAC you have already removed quality from the original audio.

re-ripping from one codec to another is generally a no-no - all you will do is make the quality worse.

If you are after better quality your only option really is to re-rip the original CD's to FLAC

[Autopilot]

Hello mate

Originally Posted by DLau

It seems FLAC will give me a better sound quality but I need to convert my iTunes in AAC format to FLAC which has has been indicated would take significant time for 20gb's worth? also would the track, artist information be converted as well?

What Uridium said.

Yes, ripping CD's to FLAC (lossless) will give you the best quality, just as good as the original CD. But when you ripped to AAC (lossy), the data lost in the compression is lost forever. Transcoding them to FLAC will just give you larger files that sound exactly the same.

Originally Posted by DLau

Would the sound quality be significantly better on FLAC than AAC to justify this hassle and also having to maintian two libraries moving forward (AAC and FLAC) or should I just run with iTunes?

For note my main HiFi system is pretty decent, Denon AVC A1XV and B&W speakers.

Yes, with the SB3 and that system, you will really appreciate the quality FLAC will give you. But you will need to re-rip your CD's again. A pain but worth it and you will never need to do it again, even you you one day get another device.

Originally Posted by DLau

Secondly it also appears I would then need a decent media player on the PC to play the FLAC format and stream/work to the SB3, any recommendations?

You dont need a media player to play FLAC with you SB3. The SlimServer software is all you need. It just sends the FLAC to the SB3 and the SB3 decodes and plays them natively.

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by Uridium

re-ripping from one codec to another is generally a no-no - all you will do is make the quality worse.

Not strictly true Lossless to Lossless is fine. A FLAC transcoded to, say, WMA Lossless should still sound as good as the original CD.

But yes, lossy to lossy (I.e. WMA -> MP3) will murder the quality.

[amcluesent]

>I have an iPod with about 20gb worth of music in iTunes. <

Also the Squeezebox can't play AAC files bought from the iTunes Store due to Apple's 'Playfair' DRM.

[DLau]

Thanks all, that more than clears up my queries. Just got the SB3 working from my iTunes library and I must say even the quality of that is impressive