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WMP to DAP question
I jumped the gun and ripped a bunch of tracks into Windows Media Player in the WMA Lossless format only to find out that my digital audio player will only play WMA standard or mp3. My question is, can WMP convert from Lossless to standard WMA before syncing? The "Help" info seems to elude to that idea but don't give enough specifics for me to be sure. I was hoping that maybe someone with experience might have had to do something similar. I am sure hoping I don't have to delete what little library I have started to do it all over again.
I don't see how this ripping/burning/DAP stuff caught on so big. I feel like the stereotype of when the old geezer first tried to program his VCR.
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Sorry, I can't help you specifically. But, before you commit to someone's solution. You might want to ask whether you wish to convert the files (1) "on-the-fly" as they sync (won't save WMA lossy on your HD) OR (2) whether you want to duplicate the whole library as a WMA lossy version (keeps all), OR (3) convert the subset you want and manually delete the files if you don't want them on your HD. Each choice likely requires a different solution.
(3) probably can be done within WMP. Look for commands like convert or export, wait for someone who knows... :-)
(2) There are stand alone applications (free ones) that should do this.
(1) Likely requires a script of some sort.
UPDATE: I found this thread where a poster says'
Quote:
Originally Posted by some thread I found
Re: WMA Lossless on portable Devices
"examnotes" <chinpokomon@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote in news:816D46AF-FD3D-4F1E-B02B-0F08ABA7BE5D@microsoft.com:
> A friend of mine told me that if I rip my CD collection in WMA
> Lossless, when I sync to a portable device WMP10 and/or the device is
> smart enough to downsample the lossless files to something supported
> by the device. Is this true? How could I know which device might be
> smart enough to support something like this?
It isn't really the device with the smarts, it is Windows Media Player. To
get this to work you'll need to have a device that is supported in WMP.
Additionally, your device must accurately report its capabilities to WMP or
you must manually setup the format that you want to use in the properties
dialog for the device. Once that is setup, you just sync your player in
WMP. Before copying the file to the device it will transcode the file into
a WMA format supported by the device.
I use this exact setup. Originally I had a 32MB Rio and I ripped
everything at 64Kbps WMA. My next portable player was a WMA capable car-
audio deck. Since I now was transfering my music on Data-CD's I re-ripped
my favorite stuff at 128Kbps. After joining the portable devices team I
was given a prototpye Creative Zen Touch device to self-host. I had 20GB
of storage for my music. I decided that I'd rip my stuff again -- for the
last time. I ripped them to WMA Lossless. I'll never need to rip them
again. Even if a new format comes out, I won't have to rip again I can
just transcode the files from the lossless format to the new format.
Enjoy the benefits of WMA Lossless!
--
Alan Ludwig
Software Design Engineer
Windows Media Devices Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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A big thanks, that's great.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
I jumped the gun and ripped a bunch of tracks into Windows Media Player in the WMA Lossless format only to find out that my digital audio player will only play WMA standard or mp3. My question is, can WMP convert from Lossless to standard WMA before syncing? The "Help" info seems to elude to that idea but don't give enough specifics for me to be sure. I was hoping that maybe someone with experience might have had to do something similar. I am sure hoping I don't have to delete what little library I have started to do it all over again.
I don't see how this ripping/burning/DAP stuff caught on so big. I feel like the stereotype of when the old geezer first tried to program his VCR.
Mr. Peabody. Windows Media Player will transcode the WMA lossless files to a WMA file supported by your device durning the synch process. This allows you to keep your library in WMA lossless, but put compatible, and smaller WMA files on your DAP.
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It sure did, I got my Zen Stone in yesterday and stayed up half the night trying to get it going to try out today. For some reason I had to click "shuffle" to get things rolling. I clicked on the Stone in WMP and it showed all the files and showed them being converted before "sync" and the status.
The Stone is a great little gizmo if you want simple operation. If I can get all the quirks ironed out with interfacing/operation with my computer I'll have it made. Most of it is probably dumb operator error.
The sound is definitely not CD quality but tolerable for portable use. I really enjoyed it more than I thought. No more searching for a good song or channel hopping during commercials.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
It sure did, I got my Zen Stone in yesterday and stayed up half the night trying to get it going to try out today. For some reason I had to click "shuffle" to get things rolling. I clicked on the Stone in WMP and it showed all the files and showed them being converted before "sync" and the status.
The Stone is a great little gizmo if you want simple operation. If I can get all the quirks ironed out with interfacing/operation with my computer I'll have it made. Most of it is probably dumb operator error.
The sound is definitely not CD quality but tolerable for portable use. I really enjoyed it more than I thought. No more searching for a good song or channel hopping during commercials.
Cool. Curious...is there a way to select a quality setting for the transcoded WMA? like 128 kb or vbr or something? It's been so long since I used Windows Media Player, I don't remember. It took me awhile to figure how to do that in Amarkok. I'm slowly in the process of converting all my files to FLAC on my Linux machine - seems to be the only format that my wife's Vista box, my Mac, and my Linux box can all agree on without any hick-ups. The nice thing about a lossless format like FLAC or WMA lossless is that this should be the last time you ever need to rip your music. Of course Murphy's Law tends to challenge that notion.
For whatever reason I found myself every year or so for the last few years having to do that to 300 + CD's. I started with 128 kb mp3's, then went up to 192, then to 128 WMA vbr (approx), then 192 vbr WMA's, etc as my storage has increased over the last 6 years or so.
Just this past week I've messed around with FLAC, WMA Lossless and ALAC (Apple's lossless codec). Went with FLAC because everything seems to support it with little hassle and because I'm still on my anti-Windows rant. Always liked WMA and WMP though...:17:
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Yes, in the Rip menu you can enter on certain values or inside the options menu there is a slide scale from 64K to 192k I believe. I put mine on 192k. I think the next big thing will be the portable that will actually play FLAC or a Lossless format. I think there are a few now but I don't know what they are. Unless some one makes a unit that doesn't use menus, I'll be stuck with some type of shuffler. Unless they make one that will talk to us.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
Yes, in the Rip menu you can enter on certain values or inside the options menu there is a slide scale from 64K to 192k I believe. I put mine on 192k. I think the next big thing will be the portable that will actually play FLAC or a Lossless format. I think there are a few now but I don't know what they are. Unless some one makes a unit that doesn't use menus, I'll be stuck with some type of shuffler. Unless they make one that will talk to us.
Yeah, there's some out there, I'm pretty sure ipod does, maybe Zune. Not sure I'd ever need that. On most portable headphones I'd use with one of those (not my Grado's) most vbr files sound good to me, but sound quality is what it is. The storage is far more a priority. Though, at 40 + GB on these players I guess capacity isn't an issue.
Then again, I know people who hook these up to their receivers as their main source player...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
I think the next big thing will be the portable that will actually play FLAC or a Lossless format. I think there are a few now but I don't know what they are.
I have two:
Toshiba GigaBeat S30 - WMA Lossless
30GB Video iPod - Apple Lossless with stock o/s and/or Apple Lossless/FLAC with Rockbox
Plus there are some Cowan iAudio and Vibez players that do FLAC
But I agree lossless is largely a waste for portables. Even with good headphones it's difficult to hear much difference between well-encoded lossy files and lossless simply due to the portables' poor headphone/volume circuitry (compared to home audio equipment), not to mention the noisy environments you'll be listening to it in most of the time. Plus lossless will cut your battery life in half since it needs to refresh the player's buffer so much more often.
I rip everything in lossless and then make a mp3 copy for portable use (Lame 3.97 V0). FWIW MediaMonkey Gold can do on-the-fly transcode/sync from FLAC, WMAL, and APE to mp3, ogg, or lossy wma and works with most portables. Personally I like MediaMonkey better than WMP or iTunes.
The Zune does not play any lossless format (at the moment, anyway) which is pretty surprising being that it is directly based on the Toshiba GigaBeat S30. You would think a Microsoft-branded product would support their own lossless codec.
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