Lossless iTunes for Linux Options

[agillis]

I am writing a script to convert FLAC files to iTunes. I need a way to encode files on Linux that work with iTunes. I haven't been able to get this to work yet. The format I use must be

1. lossless (I'd love to use Apple Lossless but theirs no encoder for Linux)
2. Have ID3 tags so the track info shows up in iTunes when you import the file (WAV is out)
3. I must be able to encode these files under Linux (no I don't want to use Wine or any way to run windows binaries under Linux)
4. Optionaly it would be nice is these files were the same size as my FLAC files (about 30% small then WAV)

How about AIFF? I have been able get the FLACs to AIFF but I can't get the ID3 tags to convert over.

I'm really stuck on this one. There has to be a format that works.

[agillis]

OK, thanks that's a good start. I didn't know ffmpeg did ALAC. I tried this

ffmpeg -i test.flac -acodec alac test.m4a

and it worked great. BUT there are no tags. iTunes shows it as an un-taggeed file. How can I move the ID3 tags over?