In Reply to: Chris, I would appreciate your advice posted by PAR on March 23, 2014 at 09:48:35:
Although I've used PC's at work for over 20 years, I'm basically a Mac guy. I generally download FLAC files, which iTunes does not support. So I have to convert the downloaded FLAC's to AIFF's to get them to play in iTunes. (I can also play the FLAC's directly with VLC media player, but mostly I use iTunes.) So here's the first difficulty: what you say about the meta information is spot on, either because it's missing in the original FLAC file, or because my conversion program messes it up the conversion process. (An example of the latter is the Järvi/Bergen "Swan Lake" on Chandos, where the converted file titles appear simply as "Unknown Track 1", "Unknown Track 2", etc - even though the tracks on the original FLAC files are named properly. Fortunately, I don't get too many of those problems!) Another item of meta information that I have to add 99% of the time is the album cover art. The album cover problem also exists when I add tracks from my CD's into iTunes.
So basically, you are right: adding and/or correcting the meta information is a big PITA with downloaded files (as well as with uploaded files from CD's). I have the same problems you do. I think there are some third-party programs which alleviate some of the pain, but I cast my lot with iTunes so that's the way it is for me. I'm not happy about all the "manual intervention" necessary, but, for the files that I HAVE converted and added, the convenience is just wonderful and, in many cases (and for whatever reason), the audio quality via computer playback seems to be improved over playback in a CD player. And BTW, my set-up is just a straight HDMI feed from a Mac Mini to my Marantz pre-pro - no external DAC.
Bottom line: despite all the frustration, it's still worth it IMHO to get all these files (from either disc or download) onto the computer.
p.s.: yes, I think you'll really like that Jenny Pike Sibelius performance - let us know!
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Follow Ups
- PAR - I'll try - but my experiences may not apply to your situation - Chris from Lafayette 19:01:01 03/23/14 (0)