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[wonmug]

Media Center 9 seems to support just about all the formats, but an important one still missing is FLAC. This is a lossless format in the public domain, so it wouldn't cost anything except for the coding.  Details are here: http://flac.sourceforge.net/index.html

[Matt]

Maybe you could get JC (author of FLAC) to write an MC plugin.

Otherwise, you could try Monkey's Audio -- it has better compression and speed, and is also open.

[Phoenix]

I haven't tried it in recent builds, but a while ago I managed to get flac files to play in MC using the winamp plugin.  Try putting the in_flac.dll file into the Plugins folder, then, in MC go to Tools->Plugin Manager and click Add Plug-in.  Navigate to the Plugins folder, and select the in_flac.dll.  

Again, this worked for me a while back, but I converted to Monkey's Audio and haven't tried it in a while.

Good Luck.

[wonmug]

I haven't tried it in recent builds, but a while ago I managed to get flac files to play in MC using the winamp plugin.  Try putting the in_flac.dll file into the Plugins folder, then, in MC go to Tools->Plugin Manager and click Add Plug-in.  Navigate to the Plugins folder, and select the in_flac.dll.  

Thanks much for that tip. I did as you explained, and can now play the many flac files in my library! That means I no longer have to struggle with WinAmp and can do all my listening in Media Center 9.

[morello]

I recently installed MC9 and added the in_flac.dll plugin properly, and for some reason whenever I try to add a flac file to play (the very same ones that work in MJ8), it doesn't accept it into the program at all... any ideas?  

I can see the pug-in added properly under input plugins, and flac is a choice for associating to MC, but it will not play any of my .flac files.

[rocketsauce]

Most likely the Winamp 2 plugins (like the one that you were using for FLAC) are no longer compatible with the  recent changes that have taken place in MC9. Heck, they don't even work in Winamp 3.

Rob

[wonmug]

Right. The WinAMP FLAC dll is no longer recognized by the recent builds.  I notice that QCD Player has its own FLAC plugin with easy installer. It would be nice to have one like that for Media Center.

[Warlock]

I mentioned the need for FLAC support over at the Hydrogen Audio forums (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act=ST&f=19&t=8024&).  Unfortunately, Josh (the author of FLAC) stated that he doesn't have any plans to write a Media Center plugin.  

I plan on using both Monkey's and FLAC for archiving.  Hopefully, FLAC support will be added to MC9, or someone will eventually write a plugin.

[xen-uno]

Matt,

APE is groovy, no doubt. But isn't it logical to support FLAC since it is now under the Xiph umbrella?

10^-27

[iCamp]

Matt,

Can you share anything about possible future versions of Monkey's Audio?

I use APE and love it but it would be nice to emulate FLAC's streaming abilities.  Perhaps lessening the CPU utilization a bit would be possible?  Just curious what you might have planned.

[Matt]

Too bad Josh won't write a plugin.  If you get enough people to bug him, maybe he'll cave  Otherwise, maybe we can do something about it for 9.1 / 10.0

About Monkey's Audio, who knows.  Media Center exhausts the little brain power I have.  Someday I'll get 3.98 out with quick-verify, unicode support, better compression, and a new interface.  Like I said though, someday...

However, you can already stream APE files.  In fact, you'll be able to play them on your TiVo in a day or two

Thanks.

[Warlock]

I guess those of us who want FLAC support will just need to start bugging JC  

Matt, does this "streamability" you mentioned mean that a single bit error in an ape file will not corrupt the entire file?  That would make me sleep a "bit" better at night (sorry, I couldn't resist).  

-Warlock