foobar+refalac Tagging Issue, Tags missing when converting Flac to Alac Options

[Lumpf]

Hello dear community,

I'm new, probably grant me some dumbness.

I'm trying to convert my FLAC collection, including 24/96 material to alac for use on my iPod. For this i use the refalac encoder with following settings:
Encoder:C:\Encoder\qaac\refalac.exe
Extension: m4a
Parameters: --silent --no-optimize --ignorelength - -o %d
max BSP: 24
Lossless/Hybrid

I snatched that from other posts, it was the only configuration that allowed me to run it. Others, left me with the output "please re-check paramters".
I included a libFlac.dll from my flac-encoder in the qaac folder. C++ environment is installed and i also copied the full folder, so the refalac .dlls are included as well. I'm running win7 x64 with the x86 refalac. (shouldn't be any problem afaik).

Now it does endoce new files, but without the tags. Foobar is unable to tag them ("usupported/corrupt file") and doesn't even show bitrates etc, but itunes plays them fine, shows the info, but no tags.

This the encoder output:

CODE

1 out of 1 tracks converted with major problems.

Source: "E:\Musikbackups\Flac\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.flac"
  An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a"
  Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file

And this is the Console log:

CODE

Opening track for playback: "E:\Musikbackups\Flac\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.flac"
CLI encoder: C:\Encoder\qaac\refalac.exe
Destination file: F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a
Encoder stream format: 44100Hz / 2ch / 16bps
Command line: "C:\Encoder\qaac\refalac.exe" --silent --no-optimize --ignorelength - -o "01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a"
Working folder: F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\
Encoder process still running, waiting...
Encoder process terminated cleanly.
Writing tags to encoded file failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
could not enumerate tracks (Unsupported format or corrupted file) on:
F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a
Total encoding time: 0:01.904, 121.84x realtime

Thanks for help,
Greetings, Lumpf

This post has been edited by Lumpf: Jul 15 2012, 16:05

[db1989]

You have not instructed refalac to write tags, so this is perfectly predictable. And it seems to be writing files in a way that is not fully compatible with foobar2000. Someone with experience of the encoder can advise whether there is an improved command line to fix these shortcomings, or perhaps a search might reveal previous discussions about using refalac and fb2k in conjunction.

[lvqcl]

1st: what version of foobar2000 do you use?

[nu774]

Looks like your fb2k simply cannot recognize ALAC files which iTunes can play fine.
Just update fb2k if you are using older version. Recent fb2k has out of the box support for ALAC.

[Lumpf]

I use an up to date foobar version, 1.1.5.

I just changed paramters to --silent --ignorelength - -o %d

Result stays the same:
Converter output

CODE

1 out of 1 tracks converted with major problems.

Source: "E:\Musikbackups\Flac\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.flac"
  An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a"
  Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file

Log

CODE

CLI encoder: C:\Encoder\qaac\refalac.exe
Destination file: F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a
Encoder stream format: 44100Hz / 2ch / 16bps
Command line: "C:\Encoder\qaac\refalac.exe" --silent --ignorelength - -o "01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a"
Working folder: F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\
Encoder process still running, waiting...
Encoder process terminated cleanly.
Writing tags to encoded file failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
could not enumerate tracks (Unsupported format or corrupted file) on:
F:\All Music\My iPod\Anteater - 2012 EP\01 Above Than Beside Me.m4a
Total encoding time: 0:01.888, 122.88x realtime

I currently have no reference ALAC file to check wether i can play those with fb2k. Maybe i manage to find some online and then i report back. If its just foobar being unable to play alac, it would be a farily simple solution to the thing, but i don't think so, as i just did a fresh install to my whole desktop with the newest software.

Best regards,
Lumpf

[lvqcl]

Up-to-date version is 1.1.13, not 1.1.5. And, only fb2k 1.1.10 and newer supports ALAC natively.

[nu774]

I use an up to date foobar version, 1.1.5.

The latest version is 1.1.13.

I currently have no reference ALAC file to check wether i can play those with fb2k. Maybe i manage to find some online and then i report back.

You can create ALAC files with iTunes.

[Lumpf]

Damn it, this is embarrassing. I'm sorry for the fuzz guys, updated FB2k and it's all fine.

I must have mixed the install files when backing up and checking for newer versions.

Thanks a lot anyway!

[derty2]

This thread has not solved anything. . . the same problem is happening to me too!

Some of the previous comments are referring to foobar2000 support for ALAC playback.
The O.P. started this thread to mainly solve an encoding problem AND NOT a playback problem

even though, in reality, the encoding problem will give playback problems too. . .

MY TEST:

- I am running Windows XP w/SP3
- Install foobar2000 v1.1.17 (DUI standard install, portable mode)
- Download ""qaac_2.01.zip (x86)" and unpack the 5 files to foobar2000 config folder root (libsoxrate.dll | msvcp100.dll | msvcr100.dll | qaac.exe | refalac.exe)
- Configure the ALAC encoder parameters in "foobar2000 Converter Setup" exactly as in the 1st post
- Drop some well tagged FLAC files into a new playlist and go to "Converter", and try converting to ALAC

- ALAC files are created, but "Information" console message window pops up this:
   -------------------------------------------------------------
   Could not load info (Unsupported format or corrupted file (moov box not found)) from:
   "C:\Test\Encode To ALAC\01.track.m4a"
   Could not load info (Unsupported format or corrupted file (moov box not found)) from:
   "C:\Test\Encode To ALAC\02.track.m4a"
   Could not load info (Unsupported format or corrupted file (moov box not found)) from:
   "C:\Test\Encode To ALAC\03.track.m4a"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

- I drop the newly created ALAC files into the foobar2000 playlist and double-click an item for playback, but "Playback error" console message window pops up this:
   -------------------------------------------------------------
   Unable to open item for playback (Unsupported format or corrupted file (moov box not found)) from:
   "C:\Test\Encode To ALAC\01.track.m4a"
   Unable to open item for playback (Unsupported format or corrupted file (moov box not found)) from:
   "C:\Test\Encode To ALAC\02.track.m4a"
   Unable to open item for playback (Unsupported format or corrupted file (moov box not found)) from:
   "C:\Test\Encode To ALAC\03.track.m4a"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

- I select all the ALAC files in the foobar2000 playlist and try going to Properties, but "Information" console message window pops up again and no Properties window appears:

- I also notice the Tags are not in existence in the Playlist View (just question marks).

So, does anybody have any working solutions for encoding to ALAC files with foobar2000 ?

Thanks in advance.

[lvqcl]

This thread has not solved anything. . .

O rly?

the same problem is happening to me too!

No, your problem is different. Simply download older version (qaac_1.46.zip).

[derty2]

Thanks a lot lvqcl, your solution worked ++++

Overwriting files of "qaac_2.01.zip" with files of "qaac_1.46.zip" works perfectly.

How did you know that? Where did you find the answer? Why does one package work but not the other?

Thanks again.

This post has been edited by derty2: Nov 23 2012, 18:36

[lvqcl]

I knew that old version of refalac (from qaac_1.46.zip) works. Then I tried to encode a wav file with the new refalac and it failed immediately:

CODE

ERROR: ALAC: input format is not supported

[eahm]

2.01 works perfectly here but I only use qaac for AAC (-V63 -o %d -) and ALAC (-A -o %d -). Try to use the latest iTunes or QuickTime libraries in portable mode.

I never understood why use refalac if qaac does it all, does qaac have refalac integrated? Maybe nu774 can explain better.

This post has been edited by eahm: Nov 23 2012, 19:36

[nu774]

Thanks for the report. Fixed on 2.02.

I never understood why use refalac if qaac does it all, does qaac have refalac integrated?

qaac -A is based on CoreAudioToolbox.dll while refalac is based on open sourced implementation. Therefore, they are different and refalac is not "integrated", strictly speaking (although both are implemented by Apple).
And if someone wants only ALAC and doesn't want to install required Apple libraries, he or she can still use refalac.
Finally, refalac64 runs faster than qaac -A on 64bit environment.
(I guess "ALAC only users" are fewer compared to those who want to use Apple's AAC encoder, but I don't know... Personally I rarely use ALAC myself).