Painlessly convert FLAC to ALAC on Windows?

Question

I'm wondering if anyone has a clean, painless workflow for losslessly transcoding FLAC files to their equivalent ALAC? It's supposed to be a bit-perfect conversion, meaning it shouldn't be very hard, but.... it is.

Why would I do this? (Before the OS folks eat me alive) Mainly, because an audio app that I use (Serato Scratch Live) does not support FLAC, and despite the constant prodding of users over the last five(!) years, most likely will not for a while. They did, however, hack together ALAC support

Also, it would seem that getting iTunes to play FLAC files (and properly downconvert them to use space efficiently on my iPod) is pretty much impossible.

The only catch is that I'd like to preserve some weird, offbeat meta tags (BPM and song key) that would be a bit painful to regenerate. I'm down with anything on Windows or Linux

Thanks

Tom

Answer 1

In Ubuntu you can open a terminal, navigate to the directory in question, and do the following command loop:

for f in *.flac; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -acodec alac "${f%.flac}.m4a"; done

This will convert all the .flac files in that directory to .alac files and it will do so in a 'bit perfect' way.

ffmpeg doesn't come packaged with Ubuntu so you'd need to install that from the repos.

I can't say for sure, however, that this will keep your BPM tag info.

Also, it would seem that getting iTunes to play FLAC files (and properly downconvert them to use space efficiently on my iPod) is pretty much impossible.

There's a program called flukeformac that may allow you to play .flac files in iTunes.

As to conversion for efficient iPod use, the following command loop will do the trick:

for file in *.flac; do $(flac -cd "$file" | lame --preset fast extreme - "${file%.flac}.mp3"); done

Here you may want to replace the --preset fast extreme option to another, lower bitrate option. More on lame presets can be found here.

Answer 2

Based on boehj answer, just for Windows using PowerShell and ffmpeg:

ls -recurse -include *.flac | %{C:\path_to_ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe -i $_.FullName -acodec alac ($_.DirectoryName+"\\"+$_.BaseName+'.m4a')}

Answer 3

dBpoweramp can convert Flac to Alac

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

After installing, get the needed codecs here http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm

.

Answer 4

FFmpeg should be able to do it; it's up to you to find the correct commands to do so.

Answer 5

I'm using Free and easy method using just FooBar and iTunesEncode for it's converter.

first you need to get iTunesEncode

then just go to FooBar , select all in your flac playlist -> right click -> convert

Look to the right side -> Formats -> Click it -> Select Custom

And customize it this way :

Encode Tool : path to iTunesEncode.exe
Extension : m4a 
Parameters : -d -e "Lossless Encoder" -a "%artist%" -l "%album%" -t "%title%" -g "%genre%" -y %date% -n %tracknumber% -i %s -o %d
Format is: lossless
next propery : 24

DisplayInfo example :
"Encoder name" - iTunes
"Bitrate" - 1000
"Setting" - Apple Lossless

That's it, fill other parameters to convert -> save configuration (optional)

And press Convert.