what media player to use for FLAC?

Corban227

Corban227

Gawd
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Dec 2, 2009
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hey guys i was just wondering what is the best program to use for listening to flac quality files. i mainly use itunes because i have all my wonderful playlists set up there, but itunes doesn't play Flac to my knowledge.
 
I used to use FooBar for FLAC, but I have started using ALAC (apple lossless) instead of FLAC. I'd consider converting your FLAC files to ALAC. That way you can keep using iTunes and your lists.
 
what program can i use to convert to that and what is the bit rate of ALAC? i haven't heard of that one yet
 
I use Mediamonkey. It's like Itunes but better. I only use itunes to sync apps with my iphone.
 
As 450 has said, I find Apple Lossless to be superior to FLAC now a days and play it through iTunes. For FLAC I still use Foobar.
 
Corban227 said:
what program can i use to convert to that and what is the bit rate of ALAC? i haven't heard of that one yet
Click to expand...

Bit rate is dependent on the source. It doesn't matter what the number is, because its mathematically supposed to be lossless.
 
I think the performance differences between FLAC and ALAC are minimal at best. Use ALAC if you're married to iTunes and exclusively use iPods, FLAC if you want to be able to use them on non-Apple hardware. There is no excuse for Apple not supporting FLAC, there are no licensing fees for it. You can use pretty much any media player to play FLAC files, except iTunes of course. The decoder used will be essentially identical no matter if you're using Foobar, Winamp or whatever so use whichever you prefer. Conversion between lossless formats is also lossless, so converting back and forth from ALAC to FLAC (or the reverse) should not incur a loss of quality.

Dustin
 
If the OP is "iTunes-centric" and uses it as his/her primary media player for music, the suggestion to use ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is the best one. It's lossless, there are no differences in that respect, but as it's designed and created by Apple for use with its own devices and software, there is no better suggestion for lossless with respect to using iTunes.

If the OP wishes to use some other format, then foobar2000 and FLAC is a possibility and a strong suggestion... but, as is so often the case, even if he/she chooses to use iTunes for creating/storing the ALAC files, foobar2000 can handle those as well with a plugin:

http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_input_alac

It won't create ALAC files, best to let iTunes do that, but foobar can most definitely play them, right outta the same iTunes music folder.

So the best suggestion to the OP becomes: use iTunes to make ALAC versions of your CD audio source content, then if you want you can use foobar to play them or just stick with iTunes for all your media playback needs.

Simple stuff, really.

ps
It is possible to make ALAC files using foobar but it's a 2-3 step process requiring another little encoder to do the actual ALAC encoding - in the long run, it's the only way to use foobar to "make" ALAC files and have the proper tags in place. It's complicated, it's a bitch, and if you have iTunes already installed (required for that 2-3 step process anyway; more accurately the QuickTime audio encoder) you're better off just using iTunes itself to make the ALAC files from the CD sources.

That way you get the tags and the album artwork all done with one app in the format desired (ALAC) and ready to roll.
 
lossless is lossless, there aren't any differences in the quality of flac and alac. if you are in love with itunes and ipods, then by all means, use alac...but for flac anything else is fine. foobar, mediamonkey, winamp, etc.
 
Another point I missed making:

Going from a properly done ALAC file (with tags and artwork) to a FLAC file if needed is infinitely easier than going from FLAC to ALAC (with tags and artwork). :)

Doing the ALAC files with iTunes covers all that, then foobar with the ALAC plugin can convert to FLAC if you feel the need lickety split with 2 clicks, but going the other way (FLAC to ALAC) is somewhat of a chore as I mentioned earlier, a haphazard mash up of several apps to get it done properly...
 
i just figured out to do ALAC on itunes, which im liking, but i downloaded foobar becuase im trying to escape itunes and move to a zune. it would be a very difficult transition though.

also

i just imported a cd using apple lossless but im having trouble hearing a difference between the lossless version and the ACC version. is that just because the quality of my sound equipment isnt good enough to notice?
 
I can't believe people keep getting sucked into more and more Apple crap.

Winamp is where it's at imo. Far superior to iTunes, syncs with everything, supports everything etc..
 
its like once you buy it your kinda stuck their i think is what he means. i mean id love a zune, but in all seriousness it would take me foooorever........... literaly to transfer everything over properly

Example of all my playlists

i have it organized like this cause i use my ipod for music in my car. the playlists are really easy to navigate on the road without losing focus on what im doing. plus it helps me keep track of what is new so it doesnt get lost in my library.
 
Your playlists are organized. Nice! I just keep my songs in folders... I never really used playlists much.
 
450 said:
Explain.
Click to expand...

Like what Corban said... You buy an ipod, then you start using iTunes, then you have to use quicktime, now you need to use Apple lossless if you want lossless audio... etc, and so you're freedom of choice goes down the drain, and now you're stuck in a prison of which there is no easy escaping.
 
Kulith said:
Like what Corban said... You buy an ipod, then you start using iTunes, then you have to use quicktime, now you need to use Apple lossless if you want lossless audio... etc, and so you're freedom of choice goes down the drain, and now you're stuck in a prison of which there is no easy escaping.
Click to expand...

You don't have to use Quicktime.

You can use Winamp or Mediamonkey as previously mentioned, so there are escape options.
 
anyone know of a lossless audio format that works with both itunes and windows media player without issues?
 
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I use Foobar2000 + Kernel Streaming to my DAC... but I don't have any reason there was anything wrong with what I used previously, Winamp + ASIO.
 
another +1 for media monkey.
Fantastic program, but could use just a little more polishing up.
 
If you have quicktime installed shouldn't Media Player be able to playback ALAC?

Dustin
 
ALAC is for audio while quicktime is for video. i dont think that quick time changes anything for audio files. correct me if im wrong
 
As long as you have itunes installed, media monkey will play any purchased itunes songs as well.
 
For those that aren't quite so educated:

iTunes is a media player and iPhone/AppleTV/iPod touch/iPod syncing tool.

QuickTime is an audio/video format (decoding and encoding), as well as having a "player" aka QuickTime Player.

All the encoding work that iTunes accomplishes is done using QuickTime components for audio and video. When you "rip" a CD with iTunes, iTunes calls up QuickTime components for creating the AAC lossy files or ALAC lossless it's creating.

QuickTime's encoder can also create MP3 content just as easily, it doesn't really matter. The other formats are handled as well (WAV, AIFF, etc).

Media Player Classic or Media Player Classic Home Cinema can both handle playback of AAC lossy or ALAC lossless, doesn't matter but you have to have the QuickTime libraries installed if you're not running Windows 7. For Vista or XP or whatever, you can install QuickTime Alternative and get that support for AAC (and potentially ALAC as well) content, but Windows 7 can decode such files natively - MPC/MPC-HC just calls up those native decoders as required.

If you install iTunes, it'll install QuickTime right along side of it so you've got the format capabilities of both decoding and encoding with iTunes. In Windows 7 and all other OSes, once you install QuickTime (the real software) or QuickTime Alternative, those decoders/encoders will be the filters/etc that get called up when such content is played.

Any media player that attempts to play any format needs the decoders installed; Windows 7 does that natively so there's no need for installing most anything else at all, unless you've got some truly oddball format or more precisely Ogg Vorbis, and there are decoders/encoders you can get from the Ogg Vorbis project (DirectShow filters available at: http://xiph.org/dshow/).

That should make things a bit easier, I hope.
 
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Bahamut said:
For those that aren't quite so educated:



All the encoding work that iTunes accomplishes is done using QuickTime components for audio and video. When you "rip" a CD with iTunes, iTunes calls up QuickTime components for creating the AAC lossless or lossy files it's creating.
Click to expand...

Just a minor correction: there is no such thing as AAC lossless. Apple Lossless is not a variant of AAC.
 
Amarok, Banshee, XMBC, VLC, etc all play flac. Once you've heard it you never go back:)
 
Ogg is not an "odd ball format" it's a very efficient alternative to mp3. Ogg and flac are the way to go. FLAC definitely as you can transcode to anything without losing any quality. WIth disc space being what it is now days I store all my music in FLAC. It encodes about 3x as quickly as MP3 etc and sounds fantastic- it is loss less after all.
 
I rip all of my stuff to FLAC. When I get music online I get FLAC, but have no problem if it is Ogg. On my Windows boxes I use Winamp 5. I actually have the Pro version of it. On my Mac I use VLC.

The reason I like FLAC so much is that it seems to be the easiest to convert to other formats and keep all the tags and everything. Since I can easily convert the FLAC into any other format I want with Winamp. (I convert to MP3 on a regular basis since that is what my car takes and I can cram a ton onto my WinMo phone.)
 
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