Tip #29: Convert music files from any format to any format

If you read this earlier post on how to import FLAC files into iTunes on Mac and were like "damn, what about us iPod users using Windows?", then this tip is especially for you. dBpoweramp Music Converter (for Windows, can be run on Linux using Wine [sorry Macs! nothing for you this time] ) can convert your music files from nearly any format to any format you could possibly think of (and perhaps even formats you have never even heard of).

But wait - what does this have to do with our previous problem of iTunes on Windows not being able to deal with FLAC files? We will use dMC to convert the FLAC files into Apple Lossless format, which iTunes can natively support. Additionally, we can also use dMC to convert the FLAC files into Windows Media Audio Lossless format, so that those who are using Windows Media Player need not go through the process of installing FLAC codecs and tag support for Windows Media Player.

Poll: If you could, would you ditch iTunes?

I don't have an iPod or iPhone, but I have experienced using iTunes before to load songs onto a Motorola Razr which had iTunes in it. Using iTunes was quite a pain then. Most of my songs ripped from CDs were in Windows Media Audio format, and iTunes converted all those files into AACs, thus I ended up having double-copies of some songs. Like how I see most people do, I had to manually search for album covers using Google and drag-and-drop it into iTunes. Song metadata wasn't automatically updated either. Windows Media Player, for example, can fill in the missing blanks in tags (i.e. you have the song title and artist, but not the album name). And recently, I covered the fact that iTunes doesn't play FLAC files or other new and emerging open source formats such as Ogg Vorbis. Shouldn't iPod owners have the freedom to use whatever file format they want to?

From what I heard, most people are forced to use iTunes, not because they like iTunes, but because they have an iPod or iPhone which they love, yet they cannot load songs just by drag-and-drop from My Computer. The truth is, there are alternatives to iTunes out there which can sync to your iPod/iPhone. Whether these media players also handle other stuff like syncing apps on the iPod Touch, or syncing your iPhone contacts with Microsoft Outlook - honestly I don't know.

Therefore, the first ever poll on Your Tip Jar, will be:

If you could, would you ditch iTunes?
(the poll is at the top of the sidebar)

If you are using an iPod or iPhone, please do submit your vote for this poll. If the response is good enough, I may test drive a media player called MediaMonkey, which can sync music to iPods, iPhones and a range of other devices, using my dad's iPhone or a friend's iPod.

A short disclaimer: the accuracy and reliability of the facts in this post can be severely disputed - as I stress the point again - I do not use iTunes.

Tip #27: Import FLAC into iTunes (on Mac) and sync to your iPod

Using iTunes on Windows? Read this post instead.

If you own an iPod, and you are seriously hooked on lossless music formats like FLAC (like me), you are slightly out of luck: iPods don't support FLAC, but they do however support Apple's own lossless format called Apple Lossless. On Windows, iTunes doesn't even let you import FLAC files into your library. I have found a tutorial to import FLAC files into iTunes on Mac, play them, and convert them to Apple Lossless for syncing to an iPod. The video did help a great deal, you can watch it to see it in action step by step, but the author did miss out a critical step. Here are the complete steps to do it if you are using iTunes on a Mac.