How do you handle a mix of flac and mp3 in your library and converting them for use in devices that can't play flac?

[aussievintage]

 

Some time ago, I switched to wanting better quality digital files, so I started using higher bitrate mp3, then I switched to using flac instead of mp3.  So,  some of my libarray is flac, some is mp3, and some of those mp3s are lower bitrates than others.

 

My car does not play flac files, so I would need mp3 versions of all my newer files if I want to play them there.  My library is primarily stored and arranged in a hierarchical directory structure.  

 

So, my current problem is how to maintain the library if I start converting flac to mp3 for the car.  I will keep the flac files of course, but where to put the mp3 version?  I have a short script that will trickle down through the directory structure, and convert any flac files it finds, leaving an mp3 file beside it in the structure.  This presents the problem that software playing music from this library sees 2 copies of a lot of the music, and for example, if I play the album in a  particular folder, I get each song played twice.

 

Should I maintain a parallel structure with just the converted mp3s in it?  This presents the problems of keeping it up to date.  Not too hard though I suppose

 

I considered just converting them on the fly as required, but this is a bit slow.

 

Other than the script I have   - basically  "find -name "*.flac" -exec ffmpeg -i {} -acodec libmp3lame -ab 192k {}.mp3 \;"   is there a GUI program for managing and converting music file types that enables easy batch conversion and control over how they get stored?

 

 

[Kevy]

If your car allows for an auxiliary input, that’s one option. Plug in a DAP.  I’m going to suggest rethinking the problem rather than converting the library. 
 

Many connect phones to car audio via Bluetooth. Car audio systems are also rather ordinary (for most of us who don’t drive fancy cars). Given the quality of the equipment and that one is usually concentrating on the road rather than music, I personally wouldn’t bother with going out of the way with audio file types in the car. And if you just stream it from your phone noting the gain in lossless is attenuated by the Bluetooth connection if you use one. 
 

Short version: work out how to connect your files to the car , not how to make your car play your files. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Dr_Kevy

[aussievintage]

1 minute ago, Dr_Kevy said:

If your car allows for an auxiliary input, that’s one option. Plug in a DAP. 
 

Many connect phones to car audio via Bluetooth. Car audio systems are also rather ordinary (for most of us who don’t drive fancy cars). Given the quality of the equipment and that one is usually concentrating on the road rather than music, I personally wouldn’t bother with FLAC in the car. And if you just, just stream it from your phone noting the gain in lossless is attenuated by the Bluetooth connection if you use one. 

 

 

I really like the convenience of a USB drive plugged in (hidden away in the console).   Sure I have tried both those options and they can work.    Hmmm...  given the inconvenience of maintaining the library of dual formats -   you may have a point.

[bob_m_54]

Even though my car player will play flac files, I keep a parallel collection of all my music in MP3 Format.I can't see the point of playing flac in my Toyota Troopcarrier, using a sub $200 stereo system. And I also use USB thumbdrives to play in the vehicle.

[LogicprObe]

 

I don't have any MP3 and very few flac as I just use wav files in all my playback situations.

Keeps things simple.

[aussievintage]

2 hours ago, bob_m_54 said:

Even though my car player will play flac files, I keep a parallel collection of all my music in MP3 Format.I can't see the point of playing flac in my Toyota Troopcarrier, using a sub $200 stereo system. And I also use USB thumbdrives to play in the vehicle.

 

I agree, mp3 quality is plenty good enough in a car

 

By parallel collection,  do you mean you keep a separate directory structure?

 

Do you just manually create the mp3 versions? 

[Snoopy8]

I manually converted (using Foobar2000) some of music to mp3 for my phone when memory was limited and expensive.  The Mp3 files are stored in a separate folder.

 

Have not used this, but this looks interesting

https://sourceforge.net/projects/flacsquisher/

 

[bob_m_54]

1 hour ago, aussievintage said:

 

I agree, mp3 quality is plenty good enough in a car

 

By parallel collection,  do you mean you keep a separate directory structure?

 

Do you just manually create the mp3 versions? 

I keep a separate external drive, of MP3s converted from the flacs using MediaMonkey which is pretty well automatic.

 

So that is my full collection of flac and MP3 on NAS, with backups on external drives, and separate full MP3 collection.

Edited April 18, 2021 by bob_m_54
more info

[bob_m_54]

2 hours ago, LogicprObe said:

 

I don't have any MP3 and very few flac as I just use wav files in all my playback situations.

Keeps things simple.

Your car player plays wav?

and second question... why?, or do you drive a Rolls or vehicle of similar acoustic quality?

[aussievintage]

15 minutes ago, Snoopy8 said:

I manually converted (using Foobar2000) some of music to mp3 for my phone when memory was limited and expensive.  The Mp3 files are stored in a separate folder.

 

Have not used this, but this looks interesting

https://sourceforge.net/projects/flacsquisher/

 

 

That project is evidence that I am not the only one who needs to do this   flacsquisher (I just tried it) is basic, but it works.

 

I have used a linux program called sound converter, that takes a different approach, it's output is not the same structure, but a new one based on artis and album names.  Not as convenient.

[aussievintage]

5 minutes ago, bob_m_54 said:

I keep a separate external drive, of MP3s converted from the flacs using MediaMonkey which is pretty well automatic.

 

So that is my full collection of flac and MP3 on NAS, with backups on external drives, and separate full MP3 collection.

 

Yes, that's the way I was initially headed myself.  

 

I am trying mediamonkey right now.  Running under WIne under Linux,  but it seems to be going OK

[bob_m_54]

6 minutes ago, aussievintage said:

 

That project is evidence that I am not the only one who needs to do this   flacsquisher (I just tried it) is basic, but it works.

 

I have used a linux program called sound converter, that takes a different approach, it's output is not the same structure, but a new one based on artis and album names.  Not as convenient.

Using MediaMonkey I set it up to convert to the same directory structure as my main collection

 

ie.  Alpha Initial (A, B, C etc)/Album Artist/year - Album/ track# - Title

D:/MP3/A/AC-DC/1976 - High Voltage/01 - It's a Long Way to the Top.mp3

 

Edit: I found MM to be  cludgy under wine, but it works perfectly in a virtual Win7 machine on a Linux Mint 19 Laptop using Oracle VM Virtualbox

Edited April 18, 2021 by bob_m_54

[ThirdDrawerDown]

Windows user here. It's a three-step process to simplify this problem:

 

1. I do a search for all mp3 files, they seem to appear like flies around a barbecue.

2. For the few mp3 files ones I want to keep, that I know are not otherwise replaceable by lossless, I put those into a separate drive. Such as live performances of throat singing recorded in Mongolia.

3. For all the rest of the mp3 files, CTRL-A to select all, and then DELETE.

 

A variant is to use Fakin' the Funk to find mp3s that someone has converted to flac. Then CTRL DEL the lot of 'em.

 

To sum up, the best way to handle a mix of mp3 and flac is to not have mp3.

 

[aussievintage]

11 minutes ago, bob_m_54 said:

Using MediaMonkey I set it up to convert to the same directory structure as my main collection

 

ie.  Alpha Initial (A, B, C etc)/Album Artist/year - Album/ track# - Title

D:/MP3/A/AC-DC/1976 - High Voltage/01 - It's a Long Way to the Top.mp3

 

Edit: I found MM to be  cludgy under wine, but it works perfectly in a virtual Win7 machine on a Linux Mint 19 Laptop using Oracle VM Virtualbox

 

I can use a Win 7 virtual machine if I have to.

 

Is that directory structure created based on tags from the files, or does it duplicate the existing real structure where it found the files?

 

[bob_m_54]

1 minute ago, ThirdDrawerDown said:

Windows user here. It's a three-step process to simplify this problem:

 

1. I do a search for all mp3 files, they seem to appear like flies around a barbecue.

2. For the few mp3 files ones I want to keep, that I know are not otherwise replaceable by lossless, I put those into a separate drive. Such as live performances of throat singing recorded in Mongolia.

3. For all the rest of the mp3 files, CTRL-A to select all, and then DELETE.

 

A variant is to use Fakin' the Funk to find mp3s that someone has converted to flac. Then CTRL DEL the lot of 'em.

 

To sum up, the best way to handle a mix of mp3 and flac is to not have mp3.

 

Unless of course you want to play them in a player that doesn't play flac, or there isn't any point in playing them in flac at the detriment to the amount of storage required. ie, a car audio system.

1 minute ago, aussievintage said:

 

I can use a Win 7 virtual machine if I have to.

 

Is that directory structure created based on tags from the files, or does it duplicate the existing real structure where it found the files?

 

Based on file tags

[aussievintage]

11 minutes ago, bob_m_54 said:

Unless of course you want to play them in a player that doesn't play flac, or there isn't any point in playing them in flac at the detriment to the amount of storage required. ie, a car audio system.

Based on file tags

 

Yeah, not going to work, as not all my files have valid tags, and probably never will have.     

[rocky500]

You could try some free software like this and convert to MP3's straight to the USB stick, so not having to store duplicates.

https://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html

 

A quick google found the above but I am sure there are lots to do it.

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by rocky500

[aussievintage]

7 minutes ago, rocky500 said:

You could some free software like this and send the MP3's straight to the USB stick, so not having to store duplicates.

https://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html

 

 

Also nice looking software.  Options for naming and file structure pretty much the same as sound converter, and like media monkey - based on meta data tags, unfortunately.

[rocky500]

Just now, aussievintage said:

 

Also nice looking software.  Options for naming and file structure pretty much the same as sound converter, and like media monkey - based on meta data tags, unfortunately.

Also it does batch conversion. You drop a whole folder of MP3 and Flac into it and only convert the Flac files and copy the already MP3 files to the destination.

 

This option.

 

 

[aussievintage]

2 minutes ago, rocky500 said:

Also it does batch conversion. You drop a whole folder of MP3 and Flac into it and only convert the Flac files and copy the already MP3 files to the destination.

 

This option.

 

 

 

Yes that's what I meant.  Look at the naming tab.  Output structure is based on tags.  Doesn't appear to be able to retain the original structure.

Edited April 18, 2021 by aussievintage

[aussievintage]

1 minute ago, aussievintage said:

 

Yes that's what I meant.  Look at the naming tab.  Output structure is based on tags.  Doesn't appear to be able to retain the original structure.

 

 

Hangon , just noticed a box on the main screen to copy original structure.  Worth a try...

[JkSpinner]

51 minutes ago, aussievintage said:

 

Yes, that's the way I was initially headed myself.  

 

I am trying mediamonkey right now.  Running under WIne under Linux,  but it seems to be going OK

Wine is the problem, to much of that and the conversion will be full of errors

[aussievintage]

2 minutes ago, aussievintage said:

 

 

Hangon , just noticed a box on the main screen to copy original structure.  Worth a try...

 

Yep, it's working.  Yey!!!         Except it is limited to 37 files until I buy it.  Oh well, it does some good stuff.

[ThirdDrawerDown]

38 minutes ago, bob_m_54 said:

Unless of course you want to play them in a player that doesn't play flac

 

My mental model for this is it's equivalent to saying "a significant defect of reel to reel is it can't play cassette tapes".

 

 

42 minutes ago, bob_m_54 said:

playing them in flac at the detriment to the amount of storage required. ie, a car audio system

 

I concede the point, and acknowledge that you think storage is more important than quality. In passing, I should point out that this is an audiophile Board and your logical end point of 128kbps mp3s won't get much support hereabouts. 

 

[aussievintage]

1 minute ago, ThirdDrawerDown said:

My mental model for this is it's equivalent to saying "a significant defect of reel to reel is it can't play cassette tapes".

 

Which is why I don't have a reel 2 reel machine in my car