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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: OldNeumanntapr on April 22, 2012, 11:57:47 PM

Title: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 22, 2012, 11:57:47 PM
Hi all,

Thanks in advance for any help. I am finally ready to start the process of loading all my CDRs on my Mac using FLAC. I'm purchasing a 2 TB Lacie external hard drive for my iMac. I downloaded xACT 2.16, but when I tried to install it, a message came up saying 'not supported on this architecture'.

I was told by a friend that xACT is only used to compress and decompress audio files.  My question is this:

My CDR master discs (transfers from my DATs), that were made on a HHb CDR 800, have no text at all. They all say 'audio disc' when I put them into the computer. How can I add the text information (date, venue and song titles)? I have iTunes set up with Apple Lossless files for my iPod Classic, but iTunes does not support FLAC.

I am sorry that I am so computer illiterate. I've been a taper for 26 years and I really want to archive my collection. I have transferred cassette masters and DATs to CDR, but from what I hear CDR isn't as long-lasting as I was led to believe.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: page on April 23, 2012, 12:11:43 AM
xACT will do tagging. It's on another tab. Why it doesn't work is a question for Scott though.

Grab a copy of XLD though for ripping, it's the best EAC/CDParanoia equivalent I've found for OSX. Second, grab a second drive so you don't lose everything if the first one dies. I buy drives in triplicate now...
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: fleish on April 23, 2012, 12:27:04 AM
I downloaded xACT 2.16, but when I tried to install it, a message came up saying 'not supported on this architecture'.

I'm guessing you are on a PowerPC. If so, you will need to use xACT 1.73 which you can get @ http://xact.scottcbrown.org/ (http://xact.scottcbrown.org/)
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: Cheesecadet on April 23, 2012, 12:47:06 AM
xACT is a rad program, I use it all the time...
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 23, 2012, 10:20:38 AM
I have a 2005 iMac with 10.8.6 OS

Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: fleish on April 23, 2012, 12:14:00 PM
I have a 2005 iMac with 10.8.6 OS

Are you sure about that? The first Intel iMac was released in 2006. And to be running 10.6.8 (I'm assuming that's what you meant), you'd have to be on an Intel box. Does 1.73 work on it?
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 23, 2012, 02:37:19 PM
I was wrong. It's 10.5.8

Will this not work on my computer?

Thanks
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: fleish on April 23, 2012, 02:54:42 PM
I was wrong. It's 10.5.8

Will this not work on my computer?

Thanks

This is the version you seek: http://xact.scottcbrown.org/xACT1.73.zip (http://xact.scottcbrown.org/xACT1.73.zip)
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 23, 2012, 07:54:27 PM
Thank you! I'll try that one.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 23, 2012, 08:16:08 PM
That one worked! Yay!  (any tips for using it?)

Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: fleish on April 23, 2012, 09:29:13 PM
That one worked! Yay!  (any tips for using it?)

(http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2009/2/3/128781836776499269.jpg)

Couldn't resist :) I find most everything in the app to be self explanatory, but then I work with 'puters for a living. So poke around and if you get stuck or have a specific Q let me know and I'll see what I can suggest.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: page on April 23, 2012, 10:27:13 PM
Couldn't resist :)

(http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q145/jfrazell/wpfZFOyVdf_i-saw-what-you-did-there.jpg)
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: fleish on April 23, 2012, 10:38:22 PM
Couldn't resist :)

(http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q145/jfrazell/wpfZFOyVdf_i-saw-what-you-did-there.jpg)

(http://fierceandnerdy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Cal-Seething-Oct-24-Dad.jpg)

You alright! I learned it by watching you!

For those totally lost, page posted that ghostbusters pic in response to something I posted in a thread ;D
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: page on April 23, 2012, 10:47:56 PM
I've read waaay too much ICHC/memebase for my own good...
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 27, 2012, 12:23:20 AM
I don't understand this at all......

I finally got xACT to convert one disc into FLAC, but I'm having trouble adding the disc info (artist, date, location, etc).

I drug the completed FLAC files into the box on the FLAC tags, but it's not adding the info when I click Write Tags.
I got it to add the info when I added it to the first track only, but can't I add the tags to the entire disc at once? When I tried to do this all the info would be erased when I hit the Write Tags button.

Do you have to re enter the information for EACH track? This would take an eternity. :(

I'm sorry I'm so stupid with this.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: ashevillain on April 27, 2012, 08:34:14 AM
Here's how I do it:

- Make sure 'Write empty tags' box is NOT checked

1. Add tracks to be tagged
2. Select all tracks (Command-A)
3. Type in Artist, Date, Album (Venue), Comment (Source info) and Genre
4. 'Write Tags'
5. Check 'Auto name' box
6. Copy (Command-C) and Paste (Command-V) the tracklist in to the 'Track Name Input' box
7. 'OK' and then 'Write Tags' again

- I then open the tracks in Cog and double check to make sure I didn't miss anything, no spelling errors, etc.
- In lieu of #5 & #6 you could choose 'File' > 'Load Track Names From File...' and point to the .txt file with the tracklist. I always have the .txt file open at this point so it's just as easy for me to Copy/Paste.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: Todd R on April 27, 2012, 02:27:38 PM
That sounds about right.  A few more thoughts:

Ashevillain is right -- putting all the tracks into the tagging box isn't enough.  If you want to write tags to multiple tracks at once, you need to first select all those tracks.  Instead of the command-A select all tracks, you could also click on the first track in the list to select/highlight it, then hold the shift key down and click on the last track -- this will also select all tracks for tagging.

Tags for date I think were made for things like studio CDs, so devices may/will not play nice if you try to put in month/day/year into the date field.  Just use the year for the date field, and then tag the album field with the full date -- 2012.02.05 - Fillmore Auditorium, Denver -- or something like that.

After putting in all the common data -- artist, album, year, etc -- you do not need to "Write Tags" to save it.  You can go right to using Auto-name to name the individual tracks and just "Write Tags" once at the end.

For the auto-name, that feature set has been expanded and made more robust over the various generations of xACT.  I think you are working with an old xACT version due to your PowerPC mac, so I don't think the "Load track names from File" feature is available to you.

You will need to copy and paste the track names as Ashevillain explained.  A few things to note:  my experience was that some of the earlier versions (could be the one you're using) did not play well with cutting and pasting directly from some text files or programs.  At least, I didn't used to be able to directly cut and paste from the TextEdit app (probably the handling of carriage returns), so I needed to copy from the TextEdit text file into a Word .doc file, and then copy from the Word file into the Auto Name box of xACT.  I don't know if you'll have this problem, but if a direct copy from your text file isn't working, try something like this.

Also, again earlier versions of xACT didn't strip away track numbers, so if your text file was:

01 Song Title 1
02 Song Title 2, etc

You will need to first strip of the leading 01, 02, or 01), 02) or whatever, and just feed a list of track names into the auto-name box.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 27, 2012, 03:08:47 PM
Thanks for the advice. I'll look into it. This is getting more in depth than I fist realized.

Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 27, 2012, 08:57:28 PM
OK. I've successfully added the tags. Now.....

How do I move the list of songs back to a folder on the desk top to start another disc. I selected all, but I can't drag the lot of them off of the xACT program to start another disc.
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: ashevillain on April 29, 2012, 02:30:46 PM
After putting in all the common data -- artist, album, year, etc -- you do not need to "Write Tags" to save it.  You can go right to using Auto-name to name the individual tracks and just "Write Tags" once at the end.

Learn something new everyday! Thanks. I guess in this case it wouldn't matter if 'Write empty tags' was checked or not, huh?

OK. I've successfully added the tags. Now.....

How do I move the list of songs back to a folder on the desk top to start another disc. I selected all, but I can't drag the lot of them off of the xACT program to start another disc.

You don't have to move them. When you write the tags you are effectively "saving" a new version of the file. You should be able to see in Finder that the 'Date Modified' is now when you clicked 'Write tags.'
Title: Re: Need advice for FLAC on my Mac
Post by: OldNeumanntapr on April 29, 2012, 02:34:28 PM


You don't have to move them. When you write the tags you are effectively "saving" a new version of the file. You should be able to see in Finder that the 'Date Modified' is now when you clicked 'Write tags.'

That's what I figured, but I didn't know for sure. I sent you a PM with other questions and also started a new thread with those same questions.

Thanks