Convert Flac to m4a
I’m thinking of converting all my flac files to apple lossless m4a, maybe that file is better supported in Traktor pro regarding the storage of the traktor data in the file itself rather than in traktor itself…
Anybody got any info on this?
Also i know converting is always loosing a bit of quality, but since this are lossless compressions… is there any quality lost then?
I would think not, isn’t it just the same as a data file going from zip to rar ?
I use Switch for converting, it’s handy and does the job quite well: Convert Audio Files To/From All Audio Formats. PC/Mac Audio Converter
My alltime favorite is “dBpoweramp Music Converter”. You can choose the plugin codecs you want from their site.
It integrates into the shell of windows so i can rightclick the file i want to convert, even supports multicore !
In theory, going from FLAC to m4a should yeild a file that would could be converted back to .wav and be identical to the original file. If you have doubts, you could always go from flac to wav to m4a, checking each step, but I have enough trust in technology that the conversion would go right. Plus, that would take forever on a big library.
I would also like to know which is supported better in TPro. I like the fact that with m4a I can dump the same songs right on my Iphone without worrying about the FLAC to Mp3 conversion and doubles. Anybody know about Tpro and m4a’s?
more comparisons of lossless codecs can be found here http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison
i dont think m4a support is any better than flac support to be perfectly honest
Edit: we should make up a breakdown list of the functionality that different files offer, that would put all this strait !
Great idead Bento.
Slightly OT: m4a and FLAC don’t use ID3v2 tagging. Having said that, has anybody really seen the ID3v2 standard and what it’s capable of? A few exerpts from the standard taken from www.id3.org. Keep in mind, this is already implemented as a standard available to anyone who can read, including Native Instruments and Ableton.
-Musical Events(can anybody say Hotcues or Clean/Explicit songs with only 1 file by bleeping/reversing during the event). This frame allows synchronisation with key events in the audio. The type of event is as follows:
$00 padding (has no meaning)
$01 end of initial silence
$02 intro start
$03 main part start
$04 outro start
$05 outro end
$06 verse start
$07 refrain start
$08 interlude start
$09 theme start
$0A variation start
$0B key change
$0C time change
$0D momentary unwanted noise (Snap, Crackle & Pop)
$0E sustained noise
$0F sustained noise end
$10 intro end
$11 main part end
$12 verse end
$13 refrain end
$14 theme end
$15 profanity
$16 profanity end
-Synchronised tempo codes (beat grids that would be stored in a common format, available to all DJ programs, maybe even released to the public with the beatgrids already established)
For a more accurate description of the tempo of a musical piece, this
frame might be used. After the header follows one byte describing
which time stamp format should be used. Then follows one or more
tempo codes. Each tempo code consists of one tempo part and one time
part. The tempo is in BPM described with one or two bytes. If the
first byte has the value $FF, one more byte follows, which is added
to the first giving a range from 2 - 510 BPM, since $00 and $01 is
reserved. $00 is used to describe a beat-free time period, which is
not the same as a music-free time period. $01 is used to indicate one
single beat-stroke followed by a beat-free period.
The tempo descriptor is followed by a time stamp. Every time the
tempo in the music changes, a tempo descriptor may indicate this for
the player. All tempo descriptors MUST be sorted in chronological
order. The first beat-stroke in a time-period is at the same time as
the beat description occurs. There may only be one “SYTC” frame in
each tag.
-Synchronised lyrics/text (VJ’ing/Karaoke made easy, without buying new songs)
This is another way of incorporating the words, said or sung lyrics,
in the audio file as text, this time, however, in sync with the
audio. It might also be used to describing events e.g. occurring on a
stage or on the screen in sync with the audio. The header includes a
content descriptor, represented with as terminated text string. If no
descriptor is entered, ‘Content descriptor’ is $00 (00) only.
These are just 3 I beleive have potiential.
+1 on Switch.
Jaikoz supports and shows all data that is in the tags themselves, even for Apple Lossless, so tonight I will do some searching and see if the data is stored in the file itself or inside Traktor.
I’m a fan of Format Factory:
http://www.formatoz.com/download.html
It does most audio formats and most video to. I’ve had good luck with it converting divx to a format for my psp.
+2 on switch
FYI, Traktor Pro does not store any information in the m4a file itself. It’s stored in Traktor. Checked it with Jaikoz.
Thought as much, theres no point of having m4a over flac then
Unless you like iTunes and want your music to be natively compatible with iPhones. Only benefit I see.
vomits
Whats the deal with Traktor Pro and FLAC, i thought pro did support flac well?
I’m just going through converting all my vinyls to FLAC because its the best quality/space saving which traktor supports.
Indeed, thought i found a good replacement for flac in traktor… guess not 
It’s down to personal taste really, cause both are supported in Traktor Pro. However, FLAC and m4a lack support for storing information on the file itself instead of in Traktor. This could be implimented in future patches fairly easily though.
Guess i’m just looking for a lossless format that can store the information in the audio files itself instead of Traktor…
What folder is this Song Information stored in Vista?
for other programs this is normally in the invisible folder:
C:\Users\pastaman\AppData\Local
C:\Users\pastaman\AppData\Roaming
or
C:\ProgramData\Native Instruments\Traktor
or
C:\Users\pastaman\Music\Traktor
but didn’t expect it in this last folder…
and also nothing in the program files folder…
But i don’t see any record of this info in these folders…
i really hope this info is not stored in the program itself, because that would mean that i can’t backup that info !
The last thing i can think of is using the export option in traktor itself…
Here I think. Backups are completely possible. Open Traktor>options>Data Location and the files you are looking for are in the Root Directory you specify. Backup that folder to backup your data for traktor.
Thx DJPhaidon, this led me to the correct directory which seems to be:
C:\Users\pastaman\Documents\Native Instruments\Traktor
this info was indeed in options of traktor → data location → root dir
now i even found in the same tab the option to select “itunes music library”
the itunes music was allready in my tracklist, but with selecting the xml file in the “data location” tab it has become organized just as it is in itunes !