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Music formats and an ex-iphone fanboy

  • 18-05-2013 6:26pm
    #1
    Doylers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,704 ✭✭✭


    Howdy everyone, first time in the android section :P Just bought a galaxy s4 after having an iphone for like 6 years. I need help with my music being put onto android. Currently its all in itunes, perfectly organized with album artwork and everything, formats are either ALAC or mp3. I set itunes to transcode everything to 320kps mp3 when syncing to my phone to preserve space.

    So my questions are:

    1. Can I used itunes with the stock music app?
    2. It doesnt support Alac, what do I do?
    3. Is there a program that keeps the high bitrate on the pc and syncs a lower bitrate to the phone?

    Thanks for any advice in advance


Comments

  • #2
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,169 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Export your itunes library out, all to 320 MP3s, then set up google music and upload everything to that for starters.

    I stream everything at 320 but if you wanted Im sure there's a manager that'll transcode down for you as you sync, have a google.


  • #3
    Riesen_Meal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,580 ✭✭✭✭Riesen_Meal


    ED E wrote: »
    Export your itunes library out, all to 320 MP3s, then set up google music and upload everything to that for starters.

    I stream everything at 320 but if you wanted Im sure there's a manager that'll transcode down for you as you sync, have a google.

    That sounds like a pain in the arse tbh...

    Can Google Music not read Alac?

    It can do Flac, I know for sure...

    @OP - can you use Google Play Music? It's a cloud streaming music service, you are allowed 20,000 tracks in the cloud, even at Flac quality, you can then stream it off phone/PC or tablet etc...


  • #4
    Doylers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,704 ✭✭✭Doylers


    ED E wrote: »
    Export your itunes library out, all to 320 MP3s, then set up google music and upload everything to that for starters.

    I stream everything at 320 but if you wanted Im sure there's a manager that'll transcode down for you as you sync, have a google.

    That was my original idea, but moving forward it will be a pain to add my music to itunes and then have to add it to google music aswell and have to be converting between formats
    Fieldog wrote: »
    That sounds like a pain in the arse tbh...

    Can Google Music not read Alac?

    It can do Flac, I know for sure...

    @OP - can you use Google Play Music? It's a cloud streaming music service, you are allowed 20,000 tracks in the cloud, even at Flac quality, you can then stream it off phone/PC or tablet etc...


    Nope it cant read alac or aac. It will do flac but nothing I have is flac because itunes couldnt read flac :rolleyes: I have setup google music but it skipped half my music when it was uploading and as I said above it presents issues when downloading new music having to add it to itunes then covert it it for google music.

    Would there be a plugin or anything that will sync the phone with itunes?? That would be the idea situation fix for me anyway I think.

    Also with converting music, what programs can covert and keep the file structure in tact, I used db for my converting


  • #5
    Justin10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,217 ✭✭✭Justin10


    When I add a song to Itunes, it will automatically upload to Google Music, in the background. I don't have to do anything.

    I did have a problem uploading my music at first but I just relaunched google music manager and it worked perfect.
    Of course for Google Music to read Alac they will have to be converted using some sort of conversion tool which I agree is a pain.


  • #6
    Doylers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,704 ✭✭✭Doylers


    Rochey18 wrote: »
    When I add a song to Itunes, it will automatically upload to Google Music, in the background. I don't have to do anything.

    I did have a problem uploading my music at first but I just relaunched google music manager and it worked perfect.

    But thats only in the case of mp3's? Doesnt extend to when I put an alac file into itunes I think


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  • #7
    Justin10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,217 ✭✭✭Justin10


    Doylers wrote: »
    But thats only in the case of mp3's? Doesnt extend to when I put an alac file into itunes I think

    Ye sorry I edited because I left out the Alac format bit.
    They would have to be converted before they can be uploaded.


  • #8
    Doylers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,704 ✭✭✭Doylers


    So I tried in itunes to covert some alac songs to mp3. That went fine, issues then was google music didnt see that the song was mp3 and up-loadable must b how ti watches the itunes library file. So if I were to covert them needs to be another program other that itunes


  • #9
    croo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 1,336 Mod ✭✭✭✭croo


    Doylers wrote: »
    Howdy everyone, first time in the android section :P Just bought a galaxy s4 after having an iphone for like 6 years. I need help with my music being put onto android. Currently its all in itunes, perfectly organized with album artwork and everything, formats are either ALAC or mp3. I set itunes to transcode everything to 320kps mp3 when syncing to my phone to preserve space.

    So my questions are:

    1. Can I used itunes with the stock music app?
    2. It doesnt support Alac, what do I do?
    3. Is there a program that keeps the high bitrate on the pc and syncs a lower bitrate to the phone?

    Thanks for any advice in advance
    I never had an iPhone myself but I have a friend who recently switched and he could import from iTunes directly see... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-SbzVQPzw

    As for 1 the google music player app will play streamed songs from the google music cloud but as you see in the video you can keep using iTunes but configure google music to look there for new songs to transfer. So the answer to 1 is, indirectly, yes. You just need to configure the google music to keep syncing with iTunes.

    2. my friend never mentioned that some songs didn't transfer so I would assume that google can convert them all.

    3. the google music player has an option to "only stream songs at high quality" - the purpose of which, according their support page, is
    When playing your music from the cloud, Google Play will detect the speed of your internet connection and adjust the bit rate based on available bandwidth. Music will be played at a higher bit rate (up to 320Kbps) when using a fast internet connection.
    So it would seem to me from this that if you leave this unchecked but upload your library in the highest quality then google will convert to the best quality for the connection you are on automatically!? If you do check this option in the player I'm not sure if it stream at alac quality or convert to mp3 320Kbps... but my guess would be that 320Kbps is the max it will stream at and if you wanted higher you'd have to download (as opposed to stream) the songs.


  • #10
    Doylers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,704 ✭✭✭Doylers


    croo wrote: »
    I never had an iPhone myself but I have a friend who recently switched and he could import from iTunes directly see... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-SbzVQPzw

    As for 1 the google music player app will play streamed songs from the google music cloud but as you see in the video you can keep using iTunes but configure google music to look there for new songs to transfer. So the answer to 1 is, indirectly, yes. You just need to configure the google music to keep syncing with iTunes.

    2. my friend never mentioned that some songs didn't transfer so I would assume that google can convert them all.

    3. the google music player has an option to "only stream songs at high quality" - the purpose of which, according their support page, is
    So it would seem to me from this that if you leave this unchecked but upload your library in the highest quality then google will convert to the best quality for the connection you are on automatically!? If you do check this option in the player I'm not sure if it stream at alac quality or convert to mp3 320Kbps... but my guess would be that 320Kbps is the max it will stream at and if you wanted higher you'd have to download (as opposed to stream) the songs.

    Thanks for the help, but it still will have the same issue as above it wont read alac files your friend probably had all mp3 files which in that instance works straight away.

    Some good news though, I found out DBpower converter an convert files and maintain the structure and naming so currently my desktop is converting all my music to 320kbps mp3. So thats a start anyway, I can then upload them to google music. Although I'll still need to workout a better way of managing all my music from here on


  • #11
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,169 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    If it were me I'd be moving away from iTunes and ALAC.


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  • #12
    Riesen_Meal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,580 ✭✭✭✭Riesen_Meal


    ED E wrote: »
    If it were me I'd be moving away from iTunes and ALAC.

    Definitely, DRM ridden proprietry music files are such a pain in the bum, I probably would have got an Iphone years ago but the whole itunes and extra software put me right off tbh, had it of been drag and drop like Android I probably would have an iphone/pod....

    Once your music is uploaded to Music you should be happy out.... think of it as a streaming itunes, also you can download the Music desktop client for ease of adding music to it....


  • #13
    Doylers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,704 ✭✭✭Doylers


    Littl update folks, so I have dumped itunes all together and am now on winamp for the time being. So to preserve the quality of my alac stuff I converted everything to flac, doubled the itunes size library and made some songs flac that are crap quality but was the fastest was to do it all in one go it even kept file structure and namings for me.

    Also I have got winamp on my phone and I have it setup to sync everything to my phone just like itunes did and it even transcodes to 320mp3 for the phone and keeps my high quality for the pc.

    I have been using google music a bit also but seems my walking route has some dead spots so I'll just sync everything using winamp for now, I bough an SD card anyway so might aswell make use of it.

    So all in all im happy out, thanks for all the suggestions and help everyone :D


  • #14
    listermint
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,104 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    Ive found Poweramp to be a more responsive music player tbh. Using it now past 18 months.


  • #15
    ED E
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,169 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Foobar2000 ;)


  • #16
    miralize
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,207 ✭✭✭miralize


    Fieldog wrote: »
    Definitely, DRM ridden proprietry music files are such a pain in the bum, I probably would have got an Iphone years ago but the whole itunes and extra software put me right off tbh, had it of been drag and drop like Android I probably would have an iphone/pod....

    Once your music is uploaded to Music you should be happy out.... think of it as a streaming itunes, also you can download the Music desktop client for ease of adding music to it....

    No DRM on iTunes Music anymore.


  • #17
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Subsonic, really is the best music organiser.

    I have a debian server running it with 3TB of Music (Mostly Lossless, FLAC, ALAC,etc) and some movies.

    It will do all the transcoding for you at the server-side for whatever platform and network, 3G, Wifi, etc..

    I can access it via a browser and on any IOS or Android device and it will also handle lastfm scrobbing at the server side also.

    It's will worth a look at....


  • #18
    Gorilla Rising
    Closed Accounts Posts: 381 ✭✭Gorilla Rising


    Doylers wrote: »
    I have been using google music a bit also but seems my walking route has some dead spots so I'll just sync everything using winamp for now, I bough an SD card anyway so might aswell make use of it.

    So all in all im happy out, thanks for all the suggestions and help everyone :D

    You can make albums/songs/playlists available offline.

    I wouldn't even bother syncing, ever! :)


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