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[iwf]

I use two hand held devices ( well folders actually) to maintain 16bit versions of my library for use by a Sonos device.  All of my library is in flac format.

The option to convert unsupported formats and bitrates doesn't seem to work.   Other than to convert to a completely different file format I can't reliably use the feature,  which would be perfect  if it worked reliably.

I can't see it being very high up anybody's list to fix but I wondered what other people's experiences were.

regards

[imeric]

Ping???

[Matt]

The 'Convert if necessary' logic for a handheld looks only at file types.  You can set the supported file types for the handheld in Options, and files that are not this type will get converted using the encoder you've selected.

Is the problem with that flow, or am I misunderstanding?  A step-by-step to reproduce would be helpful.

Thanks.

[imeric]

Hi Matt thanks for the reply,

It would be nice to give us more flexibility like a drop down to give the option of autoconverting if bitate is higher than let say 320 kbps.

My problem is that I want to automatically convert ALAC to AAC and both have the same extension when sending to an SD card.

(Look at how the monkey does it...)

[iwf]

Matt

What I'm trying to achieve is a 16bit 44.1kHz copy of all of my flac library, which currently include a mix of both 16bit and 24 bit files. 
This is because my sonos can't handle anything other than 16bit.  True I can convert to MP3 but then I lose quality.

What I'm aiming at is a high res library for selective listening sessions using MC, then a more wife friendly version that's easily payable through the whole house via several sonos devices.

[imeric]

Hi,

Will it be possible to let us choose the high bit rate settings?, for example I'd like to avoid transcoding for anything equal to or below 320 kbps no matter the format or bitrate i.e. I only want to convert lossless files.

And MC18 will not downconvert if you want to go from ALAC to AAC using the external QAAC encoder.

THx

[brendon]

Will it be possible to let us choose the high bit rate settings?, for example I'd like to avoid transcoding for anything equal to or below 320 kbps no matter the format or bitrate i.e. I only want to convert lossless files.

I've been testing syncing the latest MC18 with my Droid tonight and noticed it was converting even 256 kbit mp3s, which I did NOT want. I think I figured how to change this and wanted to put this out there for posterity (I found this post by Googling...maybe others will?).

In the options screen for the device (the external SDCARD in the Droid in my case), I selected "Mode: Specified output format only when necessary (including high bitrates)" and supported file types m4a and mp3 (working from my large iTunes library). By default MC18 converted even 256 kbps mp3s, which I didn't want!

Then it dawned on me - change the mp3 encoder settings and maybe MC18 uses that to determined whether or not to encode (maybe this is documented somewhere).

By default, the mp3 encoder is set to VBR Encoding with a target quality of normal. I set this to CBR / ABR with a target bitrate of 320 kbps.

Then I tested this by syncing over an album of each type: 1) 256 kbit m4a (should NOT convert) 2) ALAC (SHOULD convert) 3) VBR 220ish kbit mp3 (should NOT convert) and 4) VBR 280ish kbit mp3 (should NOT convert).

The one album that needed to be converted was, and the others were simply copied over. It appears that MC18 uses the encoder settings for the device to determine whether or not to encode the file.

Hope this helps.

[imeric]

Yep this does work even if you select the "extreme" setting.

However if you want to convert from ALAC to AAC (.m4a) the settings don't let you do it. 

[imeric]

Just reviving this as it would be great if MC26 could only convert lossless files when using an external AAC encoder (QAAC or FDK_AAC) and transferring to a device with the option: "specified output format only when necessary including high bit rates" option is selected

in other words it should be smarter than just looking at file type.

The embedded lame encoder is the only "smart one" accurately guessing file size for the sync and only converting lossless files.
In my case the only ALAC files getting transcoded are the > 16 bit 44.1 ones...

I brought this up a few times in the past still hoping it will be squeezed in eventually ...

Thx for considering!

[imeric]

and with an "old" ipod there's no way to use a workaround using mp4 instead of m4a to get the file converted...

[imeric]

Thought I'd let everyone know this has been 95% resolved in MC26 look at this post:

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,74443.msg505029.html#msg505029

Thx for implementing!!

[imeric]

I get the error attached every once in a while when converting using QAAC as an external encoder. Conversion doesn't seem to be impacted and I just click OK to get rid of it.