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[bbrip]

I am playing around with converting my lossless audio files from APE format to ALAC using dbpoweramp - simply so I can directly transfer them to my iPod for playback in my car without going thru lossy conversion (mp3 etc..) beforehand.

This works pretty well so far, but unfortunatly I dont see the coverart on Playback in MC12. The other tags are all there and showing up fine. Covertart is definitly available in the file as it shows up if I play back on iTunes.

Am I missing anything or is there any "trick" to get coverart in m4a-files to show up during playback on MC12?

Many thanks for any hints

bbrip

[bbrip]

nobody< knows the answer ?   ?

[Alex B]

Currently MC has limited m4a/mp4 tag reading support. It can read a few basic tags (at least: Artist, Album, Comment, Track Number, Genre, Composer) and not write any. AFAIK, embedded cover art is not supported.

If you have installed QuickTime, MC uses it for decoding m4a/ALAC. Some important features like Replay Gain, Internal volume, DSP, file converter and visualizations are not available with QT decoding.

It is possible to install DSP-Worx ALAC DirectShow filter. If the DirectShow chain is properly configured it should be able to decode ALAC files (it works for me with FDDShow & Haali splitter). This makes possible to use many of the features that are not available with QT, but it does not add support for embedded cover art.

However, even with DirectShow decoding ALAC does not behave as well as the internally decoded formats. For example, importing, analyzing and starting playback are slower than usual.

If you want to show cover art with ALAC files you could save the cover art images in the audio file folders. Mp3tag can mass extract embedded cover images to the file folders. You can find more info about this feature here: http://www.mp3tag.de/en/help/options_format.html and in Mp3tag's user forums: http://www.anytag.de/forums/

[bbrip]

Alex, Many thanks for this very detailed answer.  I guess I may have to wait a bit longer then with my ALAC conversion until MC12 is supporting the format natively or via plugins. 

While I love APE, it's a bit of a pain due to the lack of hardware support...

Thanks again
bbrip

[JimH]

While I love APE, it's a bit of a pain due to the lack of hardware support...

MC can convert when talking to many devices.  Would that work?

[bbrip]

Not sure I understand what you mean ....

[JimH]

Sorry.  You're transferring to an iPod.  You know MC can convert to MP3.  Have you found the cache feature for transfer to handheld?  It will save the MP3 files when you transfer, so that the next time, only new files need to be converted.

[leezer3]

What the OP's after is lossless support for the Ipod with embedded cover art. As the Ipod doesn't handle APE (Without Fluxbox anyway), the only solution is ALAC.
The current MC options don't allow conversion to ALAC, only to lossy formats (IE. mp3), hence the need to have the files in ALAC beforehand.

When converting the files to ALAC with an external application (Itunes?), he's chosen to embed the cover art within the files, & MC isn't recognising this cover art as being present, hence much of the confusion.

To the OP- You don't need to embed the cover art to get it to show up on the Ipod. So long as MC has the cover art in its database when the files are transferred you're good to go. All you need to do is put the cover art somewhere and add it from a file using MC. Only downside to this approach is going to be that other programs won't see the cover art.

-Leezer-

[bbrip]

Hi leezer,

I know I could store coverart externally so MC12 can read and show it. But prefer to have it internally in the file (like in APE) and show it from there.

You are right as far as my intended use is concerned    I know MC12 is smart in handling conversion to mp3 during synch etc etc.  Still, lossy format is only second best choice to me, therefore ideally I would want to have my entire library in a lossless format that has decent hardware support as far as portable players are concerned. Unfortunatly for now this happens to be Apple Lossless only.

bbrip