Saving to WMA Lossless issue

[PeterN]

Hi,

Long time use of Dcart (since version 1.06!) and first time posting here. I've upgraded to DC7 recently and have to say it's the best version yet. Very much improved!

I'm having issues converting files to Windows Audio Lossless. I have the wma audio lossless 9.2 codec installed on my XP machine and when I select that as a codec option (save file as "wma") the "available compression formats" window is empty but should be populated with the various bitrate and frequencies available within the lossless codec. Clicking the "OK" button does nothing.

Right now I'm using other tools to convert to lossless but it would be great if it were possible to do the conversion within DC7. Batch conversion to wma lossless (and maybe even to FLAC?) would also be a welcome feature!

Cheers,
Pete

[Craig Maier]

Just to let you know - we have not forgotten your thread. We are still investigating and do not as yet have an answer about this.

Craig

[Doug]

Is this version actually "lossless" ??? - the last time I saw MS flaunt that, it was far from the truth!

[Geebster]

Is this version actually "lossless" ??? - the last time I saw MS flaunt that, it was far from the truth!

This codec is indeed lossless. It has been around for at least a couple of years. It's fine; it does what it advertises, but it has nowhere the compression of FLAC or APE. In the circles I run in, FLAC is about the defacto standard in lossless compression.

[Dan McDonald]

In the circles I run in....

I know what you mean, GB.

Dan

[Craig Maier]

Peter,

Rick is seeing the same thing as your observation; we do not yet know what the source of the problem is. It could be a bug or some other basic support problem. We are still looking at it.

[Geebster]

Peter,

Rick is seeing the same thing as your observation; we do not yet know what the source of the problem is. It could be a bug or some other basic support problem. We are still looking at it.

Craig, I noticed this early on. I don't remember the specifics, but this issue has been present since the beta releases.

GB

[Craig Maier]

Craig, I noticed this early on. I don't remember the specifics, but this issue has been present since the beta releases.

GB

Yeah, it does sound vaguely familiar. I guess we never nailed this down.

[PeterN]

Thanks Craig for looking into this.

GB you've mentioned FLAC so I've done some more research into lossless formats. The more I read about FLAC the more apealing it sounds. I like that it's not propriatory and seems to be widely supported.

My original intent was to go with wma-l for comapatibility with my windows media center HTPC box. I've done some tests with FLAC and found that it really does take up less space then WMA-L files. I've also discovered that with the wptag plugin I'm able to get media center to display the FLAC tags.

So I think I'm going to drop wma-L and go with FLAC instead for long term storage but wma-l support may still come in handy.

I haven't been able to get FLAC to work in DC7, is there a plug-in that I need to install to get that format to work?

Cheers,
Pete

[Dan McDonald]

Flac doesn't work with DC7 because the software operates on wav files. You have to decompress the file into a wav format then open it in DC7. There are some players that play flac files, but playing and working on compressed files are very different things.

I have used flac for several years, but it is mainly for storage purposes and for exchanging files over the internet. It doesn't really make sense to have software altering flac files, because if the file is altered, the flac fingerprint changes. The fingerprint is used to identify identical files held by different users, etc. in exchange programs. So, if you altered the file you have to create a new flac id. Of course, you can do anything you want with your own files, etc., but if you exchange files with other people, altering a flac file defeats one of the main purposes of the flac software.

Dan

[Geebster]

At this point in time, I rarely use any kind of lossless compression anymore. It was a slight time saver when I had to send one of my music files to a client over the internet.... but now that I'm getting 12 Megabit transmission speed via my internet connection, I don't even bother to use FLAC, APE or another compression scheme; just straight .wav.

And in this day and age of ultra cheap data storage, I don't bother compressing audio for that purpose either.

GB

[Craig Maier]

Amen -

I agree totally.

Why risk compatabiltiy problems down the line so that you can save 50% in storage space now? Most of the real cost is in the effort to produce these things and not the cost of data storage.

---

How would you feel 5 years from now if you could not find a system that could decode your lossless compression scheme of your precious collection? I would really feel quite terrible about it. My archive is simply in .wav on a 1 TByte drive with two back-ups of the same. I sleep nicely at night because of that combination.

[Dan McDonald]

Yes - I am down to just internet transfer these days too.

[Geebster]

Yes - I am down to just internet transfer these days too.

There is one instance where lossless does come in handy, aside from the above....

A friend and I send music files via snail mail using jump drives; because they are so small and light. So, we basically use compression to temporarily store the music files on the jump drives. Once I download and de-compress the files, they remain on my system as uncompressed wave files.

GB

[Dan McDonald]

very cool, GB.

Dan