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[danrien]

--edit: said incorrect build--

i'm using 11.1.120 and recently i downloaded a bunch of bootlegs of ryan adams concerts.  for space-saving purposes, i wanted to convert all the flac files to oggs.  however, i have gotten to some rather old (5 years or more) flac files and they don't convert.  They just get stuck at 0% and don't convert, and MC runs at 100%.

i have just tried to do this so i didn't know if it was an issue with the last few builds or if it's been a common problem.  also shorten files seem to have a tough time displaying all the information and such and don't burn to cds (or always convert either).  anyways, sys info:

Media Center Registered 11.1.120 -- C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 11\

 Workstation 5.2 Service Pack 1 (Build 3790)
AMD Unknown 1006 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1047 MB, Free - 503 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.3790.1830 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.3790 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.3790 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.3790 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive D: _NEC    DVD_RW ND-3500AG  Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Drive E:   Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: Yes /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
  Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: No 

Burning /  Drive D: _NEC     DVD_RW ND-3500AG   Addr: 0:2:0  Speed:17  MaxSpeed:17  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
  Use playback settings: No /

[Matt]

FLAC and SHN are supported with 3rd party plugins.  Hopefully the authors of those plugins can help.

MC has native support for APE and WMA Lossless.

[jgreen]

1. Shorten files (or at least old ones) will not show progress playing and several other things, due to tag limitations, I hear.  Convert then to something else.  I converted mine to FLAC using MC and ScotAudio's FLAC plugins.

2.  I think there are also versions of FLAC, and it's possible you have the old (years ago) codec and it's incompatible, etc etc etc.  More than likely, however, you can do this, you just have to simplify your workspace.  For something this messed up, I recommend you download dbPowerAmp (free), and the appropriate filters.  MC is great for convenience, but there may be several things conflicting here.  Start fresh.

3.  For more info on FLAC, go to flac.sourceforge.net.  You'll find info on FLAC versions, etc.

4.  For non-messed up situations, MC+scthom's FLAC plugin is a great combo.  I've done thousands from WAV and SHN with nary a hiccup.

[danrien]

alright thanks.  i was hoping it was something in mc or something but i guess i'll just work around mc....

thanks again!

[LonWar]

I am trying to decide what is best format to use.
I want max, but discernable, quality.
And I'd like this to be a solution that will last for forseeable future without having to do over.

You guys seem the ones to ask.
If you were starting today would you use shn, FLAC, APE, lossless WMA, MPC, etc?

Is shn lossless?
What are advantages, disadvanages of shn and FLAC.

When Darien writes "... i guess i'll just work around mc...."

What do you mean?
How do you do this?

FlAC and SHN are not supported formats by JRiver. They have limited use using a 3rd party plugin. Knowing this, I would either keep my music in APE or WMA lossless.
In anycase, if a file is lossless, you can convert it at anytime to any lossless format without further loss in quality.

If Media Center is your app of choice, then ape would be your best bet. Matt is a developer for MC and also the author of ape. How much better support can you get?

[jgreen]

Don't use shn.  It is lossless, but its tagging features are outdated compared to APE or FLAC.

With any true lossless format, the audio quality will be exactly what you started with, no better or worse.  If you are starting with CDs, WAV files are an exact copy of the CD data, while lossless (APE, FLAC, WMA (lossless)) is the same data written more efficiently, but still the exact data, and therefore the exact audio. 

Lossy formats, mp3, wma (lossy), etc, try to preserve as much of the original audio as they can, while giving you dramatically smaller files.  A lossless file might be around 60% of the original size, while a lossy file might be around 10%.   And the audio quality is quite good.  But the audio is changed permanently with lossy formats, while lossless can go back to the original WAV without and degredation.

I prefer FLACs.  It's an open-source standard and it is designed for a lightweight CPU burden on playback.  That is its main feature, which makes it the choice for embedded audio systems where CPU cycles are at a premium, or for computers like mine, which are old and heavily-used.

APE was written by jriver's own Matt, and is in wide use for lossless audio.  It offers certain tagging features found no where else, and most people here are very enthusiastic about it.   Someone will no doubt post examples of those features.   

For me it came down to a choice between APE and FLAC.  APE has better support within MC, while FLAC uses third-party plugins within MC. You could choose either one and be very happy, and still have the option of converting to the other or back to your original WAV.  With lossy, once you convert it its done.

As for "working around MC", I suggested this because Danrien has some potentially problematic FLAC files.  Rather than go through version upgrading of the FLAC plugin for troubleshooting, I suggested he just try the conversion on a different program, one that only does conversions, jsut to see if the files were the problem.  I've done thousands of conversions on MC and it is the way to go.

[jgreen]

I posted the previous before I'd read gamer's reply.

FLAC enjoys full functionality within MC.  The difference is that any bug with APE functions is jumped on fairly quickly by jriver, while the FLAC plugin is written by scthom, who may need a few days to get changes done.