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[PhilG]

I have a library that mainly consists of CD-rips in WMA Lossless format, together with a smaller number of files in MP3 or "regular" WMA format.

When synchronising to my handheld, I'd obviously like the lossless files to be encoded to a lossy format to save space and actually be playable.

However, it seems MCs idea of "encode if necessary" is based purely on the file extension, and it sees no difference between a "WMA lossless" and "WMA lossy" file.

I'm loath to use the "always convert" option as this will cause my non-lossless files to be re-encoded needlessly, but do I have any other options?

[JimH]

You could convert your lossless WMA to APE.  There's no loss in quality.

[PhilG]

True, but it does seem a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut - converting 13,000 CD rips to another lossless format just so I can sync to my handheld... 

[JimH]

a.  It's pretty fast.
b.  It can be done while you sleep.
c.  You wouldn't have to do all of them.

So what's the frown for?  You asked for other options.

[PhilG]

True enough - so thanks for the suggestion; I didn't mean to offend.

The choice of compression codecs is always an emotive topic, and I spent a long long time pondering over the likes of APE, FLAC et al a couple of years ago before setting on WMA Lossless.  For my needs, it's a better fit that APE, and I don't view changing formats as something I'd be prepared to do - guess I'm just a stubborn git.

Is there any likelihood that in a future build or version of MC that it would judge "file type" by the codec used rather than the extension, and be able to determine that a file was unplayable by a portable player based on this?

[SteveG]

PhilG,

Making the options for encoding on the fly to portables more extensive is on the list of things to revisit in future versions.

Steve