Can HDCD discs be ripped by iTunes?

I've read the forum topics on this issue via the "Search" function of the Apple Support Communities. The consensus has been that HDCD was absolutely not supported by Mac products or by iTunes. I did notice, however, that the bulk of the questions and replies were specific to earlier versions of iTunes and older Macs.
I now run iTunes 11 on a Macbook (albeit an older one). My entire iTunes library is in AIFF format. For those who claim that Apple Lossless Encoding (ALE) "sounds the same as AIFF with a 2.5x reduction in size," may I say that you are wrong, IMHO. I find the AIFF to sound cleaner than ALE, and significantly so. That, however, is another discussion.
I have just purchased some HDCDs. I would like to rip them to my iTunes library. On my older Macbook, the discs are not even recognized by the drive and are ejected after initialization fails. I also, however, own a much newer iMac. Assuming that the iMac drive can recognize and play the discs (a theory I have not yet tested), a variety of questions arise:
Can iTunes 11 recognize and use the 20-bit HDCD format?
Assuming that it can, can the AIFF endoder in iTunes 11 save the HDCD in native format?
Assuming that it can, can the older Macbook then decode the higher-bit AIFF files?
I am bypassing the Macbook's internal DAC with an Audioquest Dragonfly. Assuming that the older Macbook can decode the higher bit AIFF file, can it output that information to the Dragonfly via USB?
If the above are all possible, my game plan is to rip the HDCDs via the iMac, import the files to the Macbook, and play the files from the Macbook. If nobody knows the answers to my questions, then I guess I'll be the "test lab" for this process.
Cheers - CathodeCathay

Hi,
I have just bought a new USB superdrive for my imac.
Technical Details
Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive (DVDA±R DL/DVDA±RW/CD-RW)
Writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs at up to 6x speed
Writes DVD-R and DVD+R discs at up to 8x speed
Writes DVD-RW discs at up to 6x speed and DVD+RW discs at up to 8x speed
Reads DVDs at up to 8x speed
Writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed
Writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed
Reads CDs at up to 24x speed
This I believe is similar to previous built in drive.
I was going to say that I believe that your drive will not be compatible BUT I'm sure I have some such discs and have succesfuly.imported them into itunes albeit at 256 kbps.
I think that you should try a disc in your newer mac. If you can import them as AIFF you will be limited to 16-Bit.
Jim

Similar Messages

Can I specify the location where iTunes places ripped mp3's?

I would like to use iTunes to rip my CD's.
However:
1. I keep my music at a different location (directory tree arranged by genre, artist, albums etc) than the iTunes library. I manage the music library myself.
2. I edit the MP3 tags outside of iTunes (using MP3TAG software).
So, can I
1. tell iTunes the directory where to place the ripped mp3's and
2. prevent iTunes from automatically integrating the rips into its library. I will import the mp3's into iTunes when I an good and ready.

Aloke wrote:
I would like to use iTunes to rip my CD's.
However:
1. I keep my music at a different location (directory tree arranged by genre, artist, albums etc) than the iTunes library. I manage the music library myself.
2. I edit the MP3 tags outside of iTunes (using MP3TAG software).
So, can I
1. tell iTunes the directory where to place the ripped mp3's and
Not really. iTunes places rips at *<iTunes Media Folder>$Music$<Album Artist|Artist>\<Album>\## <Track>.<ext>*. You can change the location of your *<iTunes Media Folder>* but that's it. The optional Music\ bit depends on whether you're using the new *iTunes Media Organsiation*.
2. prevent iTunes from automatically integrating the rips into its library. I will import the mp3's into iTunes when I an good and ready.
Nope. iTunes add files to the library as part of any import, rip or play operattion.
For what it's worth I keep my library organised manually, but why use MP3Tag to edit data that can just as easily be editied inside iTunes? After I rip an album or purchase from iTunes/Amazon I use iTunes to amend the details so that the album will be properly organised (see tips at http://www.samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/grouping.asp) and then use MediaMonkey to reorganise the files & folders to my style. I then simply delete & reimport the album.
tt2

How can it that half of my songs are matched in iTunes Match where the other songs from the same CD (ripped by Itunes) are not matched but uploaded?

I started with ITunes Match a few days ago (I have the latest versions of all OS's etc)
- The whole process took more then two days to complete for the first time.
- Half of my songs are matched in iTunes Match where the other songs most of the time from the same CD (most ripped by ITunes) are not matched but uploaded(?)
- Complete CD's are not recognized, they are however available in the ITunes store (songs in my library not available in ITunes are an exception).
- The match part overall is less then 50%, which is a complete disappointment.....
- When I activate ITunes Match on my IPod, IPhone and IPad the art-work does not load or only partly.
- Loading songs on iOS is extremely slow... and that is definitely not due to my internal network.
- ICloud (ITunes Match) on the apple TV stops working after every 15 seconds because it losses connection to the ITunes server....
I am a real Apple fan for the last decade but what a disappointment is this......before I started with ITunes Match everything worked seamlessly.

The number of Songs that 'matched' is simply a function of the current iTunes Match service process. It is not unusual to have multiple Songs in an otherwise perfectly matched album be uploaded - often it is very possible to find the album in the iTunes Store.
The Artwork does tend to reappear for many over a few days / weeks - however, if your library backup has all Artwork present it would be wise to save the Album Art separately and reapply to Albums not showing art work in the library grid view.
Many of the other performance issues you mention are not typical - though during the past working week or so the Apple Infrastructure has been very heavily loaded with multiples countries having service go-live symultaneously.

How can I bypass Automatically Add to iTunes?

I have a large CD collection (>3000) that I've ripped to iTunes in ALAC format; I only listen to CD or better quality music, so I don't have any mp3 or AAC files in my iTunes library. I keep my music on an external hard drive. I recently bought a larger external hard drive and moved all of my music to that drive. For some reason, iTunes chose to put all of my music in a folder called "Automatically Add to iTunes". This was fine, except that I could no longer see the contents of the hard drive; however, I did know that the files were there, becasue of the disc space that they consumed.
Today, I ripped two new CDs to the hard drive through iTunes and I noticed that iTunes placed the music folders for those CDs outside of the "Automatically Add to iTunes". I decded to drag the new folders into the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder. When I did so, all of the previous music disappeared and I cannot recover it. Fortunately, I have a copy of Sentuni, so I'll be able to put the music back on the hard drive from my iPods, but this process will require several hours. In addition, ripping my CD collection to iTunes required a lot of time, so I'm not pleased with the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder feature. Is there a way to disable this feature, so that I can simply put my music on my external drive and be able to see that the folders are there.
I've been a devoted Apple customer for almost a decade, so I won't get too upset over this issue, but I wish that your developers would have addressed this issue during the development stage. Thanks for your attention to this problem.
Best,
Heath

Heath Watts wrote:
If only this were the case. I tried to move several albums into the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, which resulted in thousands of albums being erased from the folder. One should be able to drag a music folder into the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder without iTunes erasing the original contents of the folder.
It didn't erase anything.
It automatically added them to iTUnes and moved them to the correct folder (Movies, Music, etc.) in the location shown in iTunes prefs > Advanced - iTunes media folder location.
I would like to disable the "Automatically add to iTunes" feature in iTunes,
You "disable" it by not putting anything into it. If you don't want to use it, don't use it.
If you want to manually manage, do not put anything into this folder.
Go to iTunes prefs > Advanced and uncheck Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library.
Then File > Add to library adn select what you want to add to iTunes. Do NOT put anything into the Automatically add to iTunes folder
and would like to be able to see the albums and artists on my external hard drive without having to do Spotlight searches
You wouldn't have to do Spotlight searches anyway.
The files are in /Music/Artist/Album folderin the location shown in iTunes prefs > Advanced - iTunes media folder location.
Also, in iTunes, you can select a song, right click - Show in Finder.

All music gone, transferred to 'other', can't enable disk use on iTunes

it seems like there are a lot of people with similar problems but nothing exact..here goes:
-doing research on my macbook and i get a popup from itunes saying that my ipod was disconnected improperly (i didn't touch it and i wasn't even messing around on itunes)
-ipod restarts and reconnects with itunes and i get another pop up saying that "itunes cannot read the contents of the ipod. go to ipod summery and preferences and restore.
-i would just restore it and reload all the music butttttt like an idiot..i dont keep my music in my itunes cause it takes up way too much space and i never used any external hard drive or anything to back my music up (again..idiot..i know)
-so i read though a ton of forums and posts and see that im not the only one that this has happened to and everyone is saying to put it in disc mode, go to removable disk, copy all the music back to my macbook, restore my ipod, and put all the music back on. i also read something about clicking on my ipod icon on my desktop and going under ipod controls and changing some names (i dont konw if that was jsut for windows or what) but i also dont have an option of ipod controls
-the problem with that is that i can put my ipod into disk mode but that does me no good because i can't enable disk use on itunes because literally..my only option when i plug in my ipod is to restore it. under devices on the left hand menu, it just says ipod..not ipod with a bunch of sub categories like music and playlists and stuff..just ipod.
-normally..i would just give up and restore it but when i go to the about section on my actual ipod, it says that i have 50GB of "other" so that means that stuff is definitely still on it.
-so finally..my main question is:
is there ANY way to enable disk use on my iTunes without doing it through my iPod?..like i explained..when i plug my iPod in..that is not an option. and also..would i benefit from just bringing my laptop and ipod into an apple store and asking for help there or will that just be a waste of time?

The library on the iPod will have been damaged - hence the reason it appears empty, but the media files are still there taking up space and reported as "Other". Check out this post from Zevoneer for some iPod recovery options.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6273675&#6273675
Some of the tools mentioned will require a working library, but I know from experience that you can use the manual recovey method when the library is missing or damaged. If you're struggling for space you probably need to go & buy an external drive before you start. Stick the iPod in disk mode. Hold Menu+Select > 6 seconds (resets iPod) followed immediately by hold Previous & Select > 6 seconds. You can now drag the contents of iPod_Control\Music to your new hard drive. You may need to reveal hidden files & folders. Once they are on your hard drive you can create a new empty library on the drive, then import the files you have reovered and consolidate the imported library so that the files are in a standard artist\album\## track structure rather that the iPod's obscured names.
tt2

ITunes M4A vs Amazon MP3, ripping in iTunes, cloud services

Sorry to ask 3 different questions in 1 thread, but they're all kind of related..
1) I've been struggling for a while to decide which service to use for digital music. Until recently, I always bought physical CDs and ripped them to my computer at 320Kbps. Then, Amazon started to attract me with all of the deals they have and free credits, not to mention the Cloud player. So I started buying from Amazon. I also had some iTunes credit, which I used and was surprised to find quite a difference in quality. Both are 256Kbps, but Amazon uses MP3, while iTunes apparently uses AAC M4A files. The thing that stands out to me is that the audio is louder and clearer.
Has anybody else noticed this? Everywhere I look online people say there's no difference in the two, but I swear there is. If you download the same song from Amazon and iTunes then listen to them back to back at the same volume, you should notice the difference. Preferable some kind of rock song with louder music where it may be a big harder to make out the lyrics. It's not so much "quality", like the MP3s sound "bad" compared to them, or are missing parts of the audio. It's just that the M4A files are louder and seemingly clearer, making it easier to understand lyrics. It's different than just turning up the volume, the words really stand out more in an M4A file.
So is it just me, or is AAC really that much better than MP3? The 256kbps M4As from iTunes even sound better than the 320kbps MP3s I've always ripped from my CDs via Windows Media Player. I've not, however, compared to the 320kbps MP3s from Google Play, maybe I will try that sometime.
2) Assuming that it's better, that means I need to re-rip my entire CD collection. Will ripping within iTunes to M4A 256kbps give me the same quality as if I bought the file from iTunes and downloaded the file? Also, it looks like you can rip all the way up to 320kbps. Is it even worth it with AAC files, or will I likely not notice a difference over 256kbps?
3) Finally, cloud services. This is the one that has me the most confused. I have 2 goals really: #1, be able to listen to all of my music on my work computer in addition to my home computer and #2, have access to all of my music in some cloud service to access on my Android phone and Android tablet. I have 3 main services to chose from, Amazon, Google, and Apple, each with pros and cons.
Amazon
Pros - lower prices, lots of sales and free credits, all MP3s purchased there are automatically added to my Amazon Cloud, as well as any albums that have the "AutoRip" feature, Amazon Cloud Player seems sufficient both on my desktop and mobile devices.
Cons - lowest audio quality out of all services, can only store 250 personal songs for free, $25/year to upgrade to 250,000 songs
Google
Pros - lower prices than iTunes and sales, but not sure if they're as good as Amazon, all MP3s purchased there are automatically added to my play library
Cons - the desktop web client and mobile app aren't very good, IMO. You don't have much choice over how to view/organize the music. Amazon Cloud player seems better in every way.
iTunes
Pros - best audio quality, iTunes Match for $25/year to have my entire iTunes library in iCloud, including songs not purchased from iTunes (no size/# limit that I'm aware of), iTunes desktop app works fairly well and could be installed on my work computer and play my entire library with iTunes Match
Cons - highest prices, no client for Android devices, iTunes Match costs $25/year
(if I left off any pros/cons, please point them out and I'll add them to the list)
So here's my predicament: I want to start ripping all of my CDs and making all of my digital purchases in iTunes, mostly because of the superior audio quality. But, doing it this way I'll have no good cloud option for my phone and tablet. I could pay for the Amazon Cloud Pro to be able to upload my entire library there, but I would lose the quality of most files (they would match the files with their versions). I could upload my library to Google Play, but I would lose the quality there as well AND I hate their web client and mobile app.
Alternately, I could start purchasing all of my stuff from Amazon. Then, I could pay for iTunes Match to upgrade all of my songs to the better quality files, but I still couldn't use it for cloud-purposes, and it seems the only way to get the files onto your computer is to delete the source file then download it from the iCloud, but a lot of people are saying that's risky.
So, I just don't know what to do. Is there something I'm missing here that would offer me a better solution? I wish Amazon would just start offering better quality audio files, that would solve everything.
Note: I'm aware I could just store my music ON my Android phone and tablet, but 1) that would take a lot of manual work and upkeep and 2) I wouldn't have enough space on my tablet for my entire library (or on the phone without buying a 32GB microSDHC card). So, I really don't want to go that route.

AAC is a more modern codec than MP3 and thanks to advances is able to be more efficient at compressing audio than MP3. This means that at the same bit rate e.g. 256Kbps AAC will retain more of the original quality than MP3 at the same bit rate. Most of the articles I have seen say that roughly a 256Kbps AAC file would be equivalent in quality to a 320Kbps MP3 file meaning the AAC file is up to 25% more efficient.
You could if you wish rip CDs at 320Kbps AAC and that in theory would sound even better compared to a 320Kbps MP3 file. However for most people listening on a portable media player (aka. iPod) with standard earphones you would not be able to tell. In a home playing through your HiFi speakers then you might be able to tell the difference.
By the way, it is now possible to rip all your CDs in Apple Lossless format meaning it is exactly the same quality as the original CD, and still have iTunes automatically convert to AAC when copying to your iPod/iPhone. This way you get full CD quality in your home, but use a smaller slightly lower quality file on your iPod/iPhone.

Digital movie download - can I move it from one iTunes file to another?

I have gotten several new Blu-ray and DVD sets for Christmas. Included is a digital copy which can be downloaded. Once I download and move it to iTunes, can I export that from one iTunes file on my Mac to another Mac which I own? I haven't been able to find a relevant post.

CWmain, this is something I'm keen to know too. I've got the new Star Trek and Transformers 2 Blu-ray discs with digital copies. I was hoping I could download the movies to my Mac Pro by redeeming the codes supplied with the discs and once downloaded just copy the resulting download files across to my MacBook Pro. I'm hoping that because both machines are authorised with my iTunes account it should just 'work'. Can anyone confirm this is correct before I go ahead?

Can I copy my Mac OSX iTunes library onto my Bootcamp WinXP iTunes library?

Hey all,
I have an iMac with latest OSX. I do my business work during the day with WinXP in the same computer, Bootcamp mode.
My question is, can I transfer (copy) my iTunes library onto my Windows side? It is authorized.
If so, how would I do this? Would I create backups to CD(s) and then install them into Windows? Or would Windows not be able to read the discs, even if using iTunes?
This would mean that I would then have the same (same) library on both sides of my iMac HD.
Message was edited by: lionheart_001

Hello,
I was hoping I might see again if anyone knows if this is possible.
Many thanks,
Bill

TA47831 How can I import a playlist to iTunes?

An old article (http://support.apple.com/kb/TA47831) explained how to export an iTunes playlist to an .m3u file and reimport it. This functionality no longer works with the newer version of iTunes (I'm running iTunes 10.6 on Windows 7). This is presumably why the article has been retired and is no longer supported by Apple.
If I export a playlist, change its name, then reimport the result is an empty playlist. Here is an example of one of the lines from the .m3u file:
#EXTINF:196,My Happiness - Ella Fitzgerald
\\NEF\music\Ella Fitzgerald - 50 Classic Hits (disc 2)\Ella Fitzgerald - My Happiness.mp3
As you can see my file is an mp3 on a remote server ("nef") and works perfectly well in the "Music" section of iTunes.
What I really want to do is to import some playlists that have been generated elsewhere (for example using a script to identify all the US hits of the 1980s with the word "power" somewhere in the lyrics). I figured the easiest way to do that would be to work out what format of playlist iTunes would be able to import and generate one of those, I was somewhat surprised to discover that iTunes can't even import a playlist it has just exported.
How can I import a playlist to iTunes?

Hi Steve,
I was wondering this myself and a quick Google found your post here along with an Apple support article published three weeks ago. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH1744?viewlocale=en_US
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dave

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Can't Burn CD's with iTunes in Windows Vista x64

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Microsoft Windows Vista Professional (Build 6000)
Biostar TF 570 SLI
iTunes 7.3.2.6
CD Driver 2.0.6.1
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UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.0.6.1),
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NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
Connected Device Information:
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CD-ROM Drive, LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L SCSI CdRom Device, Bus Number 0, Target Id 0, LUN 0
Failed while scanning for CD / DVD drives, error 2355.
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D: Unsupported CD or DVD drive.
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My ipod is displying apple logo and wont start up, hard reset leaves it the same, disc mode works but iTunes doesnt "see" it even if the computer does.

"My ipod is displaying apple logo and wont start up, hard reset leaves it the same, disc mode works but iTunes doesn't "see" it even if the computer does."
It worked two days ago fine, for two years, until I installed this newest iTunes update, then for one day it kept on freezing and going to apple logo screen mode, then today it only goes to that screen and wont start up at all.
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Looks like I might have found the solution on a youtube comment:
R.O:
"Plug into you laptop first, whichever set up you use that has iTunes, i know it won't read it, don't even open iTunes as of yet. Do the typical reboot "Menu +Center button at the same time" and hold it, DONT LET IT GO like we were told, when the apple pops up.. KEEP HOLDING IT it will make a new ding sound I've never heard before. and since its hooked to you laptop already an error message pops up and says apple will need to download something to repair your iPod. I when u see that that when i let reboot buttons go. hit ok on the laptop something downloads for like 20 seconds then the iTunes icon hops around when you open it it has a screen with an iPod classic on it and says "Software version blah blah, iTunes will check for an update on such n such date" AND FINALLY there's a "Restore" button. click that and you will be back to square one with your iPod. Renaming , adding all the music on it, but it will work again, finally. "
I had to do it twice, because my mac froze the first time, but its recognized it now and is downloading the software as we speak...
Now I've clicked the restore button and it's restoring... I'll post again if its a success, otherwise assume failure.

Can't convert to MP3 with itunes music

I have downloaded some music but I am not able to convert my purchased itunes songs to MP3 so that I can put it into a personal movie maker project that I am doing. When I try to convert the song, I get this message: "Amazing Grace" could not be converted because protected files cannot be converted to other formats. How can I get this into my Windows Movie Maker?

Di5,
The protected tracks sold in the iTunes Music Store are not mp3s, and under the terms of the ITMS license cannot be legally converted to mp3 format. iTunes does not provide a way to do the conversion, and if you are a rocket scientist and figure it out, you would not (as Paul correctly notes) be allowed to discuss it in this Forum.
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Hope this helps.
Ed
Windows XP & 30GB iPod

I uploaded a CD. It's in my finder. But I can't get it into the iTunes Library--which means I can't get it on my iPod. How do I fix?

I uploaded a CD. It's in my finder -- I can even play it from my finder. But I can't get it into my iTunes Library, which also means I can't put it on my iPod. Does anyone know how to fix this or a workaround?

How to rip CDs with iTunes - http://www.macworld.com/article/156861/2011/01/howto_rip_cds.html
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http://www.macworld.com/article/1156861/howto_rip_cds.html
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Can HDCD discs be ripped by iTunes?

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