WAV to Lossless

[Howard Brazee]

Is there a simple way to load .WAV files as Apple Lossless and consolidate? I am currently jumping through hoops to do this.

[kornchild2002]

Sure, iTunes or dbpoweramp R12 can do this. You can simply load the WAV files in iTunes, set your CD ripping preferences to Apple lossless, then right-click on your WAV files and left-click on Convert To Apple Lossless. Any tag information you entered into iTunes will transfer over to the Apple lossless files. With dbpoweramp R12, you will have to re-tag everything. WAV files themselves can't hold ID tag information but iTunes can store it in your library file.

[Howard Brazee]

That sounds pretty much like I do now:
1. Load them to iTunes, discovering that it doesn't know much about the song nor album (which isn't too bad for songs I recorded - except that I have to do step #2).
2. Find all of the songs, give them each the album name.
3. Now that they are together, convert them to Apple Lossless.
4. Consolidate.
5. I now delete the original .WAV files.
6. In iTunes, I see duplicates. Delete all of the .WAV versions in iTunes.
7. Start filling in lyrics and such. (I wish iTunes provided lyrics as well as album art)

I'd like to reduce some steps.

[rockmyplimsoul]

You might be able to save a step by combining #6 with #5 -- delete the library entry and let iTunes delete the native file as well. But this only works if the files are in your iTunes Music folder. You can also create a smart playlist that groups all the WAV songs together for easier identification & deletion. You can delete directly from a playlist by holding the Shift key when you delete.

Also, what do you mean by "Consolidate"?

[Howard Brazee]

Originally Posted by rockmyplimsoul

Also, what do you mean by "Consolidate"?

I click on Advanced/Consolidate Library, to move all of my music to my iTunes library.

[kornchild2002]

Originally Posted by Howard Brazee

I click on Advanced/Consolidate Library, to move all of my music to my iTunes library.

As long as you set your default ripping directory to your iTunes Library folder, then there is no need to consolidate. You can simply add your wav files then right-click convert to Apple Lossless. The Apple lossless files will then end up in your default iTunes directory. Hence, you don't have to consolidate. I also recommend that you change a couple other settings in iTunes before you get going on this. First off, change your CD ripping setting to Apple lossless. Then click on Edit, then Preferences. Click on the Advanced tab and make sure the General tab is highlighted. Make sure you have the option of "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" enabled and that you have "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" disabled. You want to disable the section option or else you will end up with two copies of your wav files on your computer and that will take up a lot of room. That is it, click OK.

You can then add all of your wav files into iTunes without it making duplicate copies of them. Add all the tag information you want, highlight all the wav files, right-click on one of them, and left-click on convert selection to Apple lossless. Then just sit back and let iTunes do the work. Don't highlight any other songs, don't click around in iTunes. Just let it do its job. After it is done, you can simply hit the delete key on your keyboard. iTunes will ask you if you want to delete the files of your hard drive (send them to the recycling bin). You can either select yes or no, it all depends if you still want to keep a spare copy of your wav files (there is really no need as you will have Apple lossless files). That is it. Sit back and enjoy your Apple lossless files.