Let’s start off with a small introduction to files we are working with, first FLAC.  FLAC is an acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec⁽¹⁾. What this means to you is that they are big and are not compressed or trimmed in any way.  MP3 which means MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, is the name of the compression techniques used to make the file – usually losing some of the music quality in the process (MPEG by the way means Moving Picture Experts Group)  — the reason you want MP3 is because it usable in almost any player⁽²⁾. By the way, a codec is a set of techniques and instructions that allows tools to read or work with file formats.

Now let me introduce MediaCoder, this free software has several packages, and the one we are interested at the moment is MediaCoder Audio Edition⁽³⁾. Feel free to donate something to these guys, they have done a wonderful job of collecting all the codec’s and wrapping up all the tools and processes into one place. 

Install Media Coder Audio Edition
First you need to download the program from http://www.mediacoderhq.com/audio/ ⁽³⁾.

Start the process by either Double-Clicking or Selecting Open after you download the file (file name is something like this: MediaCoderAE-0.7.2.4515.exe).
The following Images is a typical install:

Click Next

Click I Agree

Change the folder if you need to, and click Next

You shouldn’t need to change anything here, click Next.

I don’t know what Memeo is, so I didn’t install it, I selected Do not Install, then clicked Install.

Now you have to wait until it does the job of installing the software, took about 3 minutes on my computer.

Select Run MediaCoder Audio Edition, uncheck View Referral Page, then click on Finish.

Ok, if everything went ok, you should now see the following screen in front of you:

This is where it gets a bit complicated. 

First you need to select your FLAC files that you are importing (I’m going to do a folder):
File, Add Folder


Browse to where you need to go

MediaCoder will automatically select all the audio files in the folder.  

Ok, after you have your files, you now need to look at the MP3-Lame settings, MP3 Lame is a codec that is freely available and used in creating MP3’s⁽⁴⁾.

I changed the setting to CD(ABR/192Kps).  If you want you can either go up in Quality (and file size) or downwards.  For more information on the other types and how to use MediaCoder Audio Edition in more detail, please go to their Wiki found here:
http://wiki.mediacoderhq.com/index.php/Main_Page

Ok, after I made that minor change, I then clicked on the Start Button.  It converted all the FLAC files to MP3, and renamed them automatically.

Now to import them into iTunes, you do pretty much the same thing, since iTunes doesn’t recognize FLAC, you can add that folder and it should bring them without a hitch.

Open iTunes
Select File, Add folder to library


Browse to folder where you converted the files (itunes.s3)

Click Select Folder

It will import the files automatically.


Thanks for reading this article, if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here!  I will try to answer them when I have time

Thanks

Michael White
Holly Springs Consulting
michael@hollyspringsconsulting.com
10/12/2009

END LINKS
1. http://flac.sourceforge.net/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3
3. http://www.mediacoderhq.com/audio/
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAME

Note:
Special thanks to the Internet Archive for the music I used in this demonstration, find out more about the Internet Archive by following this link:
http://www.archive.org/index.php

For example, browse to Google.com, and type in the same thing, and you will see that the top listing is the weather for Holly Springs, NC and below that sites that offer the same or similar information. Searching the web is a fun past time, and the more skillful you are, the more fun and information you can gather.

Yahoo and Google both have their strengths and weaknesses. If you get fixed on one or the other it limits you, you should explore both when doing any research. What you want to do helps you decide on which search engine to use. For example, when you type in gas 27540, Yahoo gives you Gas Buddy, a service of the cheapest gas prices in that area.   After a few minutes you can figure out where and who has the cheapest gas prices, and how to get there.   Google on the other hand gives you a list of gas stations within in that zip code, and maps them out for you automatically.

Have a phone number you don’t recognize on your caller id? Type it in, most business will come up. Looking for a show time, type this in: Showtimes 27540, and you will get a listing of Movie theaters with show times in (or in this case near) the 27540 zip code.

Define is another handy shortcut I use, enter Define: Platypus, and you will discover that this animal is an egg laying mammal that lives in Australia. Yahoo has an excellent listing of these shortcuts — to find them: enter Yahoo Shortcuts, and you have several to choose from that will usually work interchangeably between Google and Yahoo.

Searching shortcuts is just the beginning, with the plus and minus sign I can control the search, minus means ignore the word it’s connected to, plus means require that word (Google doesn’t require the + sign). For example: Search for Ford with results that do not contain new, stock or injection; but does contain fuel is typed in like this: Ford +fuel -new -stock –injection. My first listing was about a Ford Focus with new fuel cell technology.

So search the web, and have fun, let me know of you adventures if you would. One last tip, try searching “Searching Techniques”

Michael L. White
Have a comment, concern or just want to let me know I’m full of it, please send me an e-mail and let me know!