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Post by steveternal on Jan 30, 2007 8:48:00 GMT -5
Hey all, I need some help here. I'm about to upgrade my old PC, and I'm thinking of making the big switch to a Mac... but I don't know all that much about the types of files/programs it supports. I'm sure there are some Mac-using live music fiends, so I wanted some info on what programs or plugins are available in ordrer to play files like FLAC and SHN. Also if there are any Mac bittorrent users, what do you use?
I do not have a Mac, but i do use itunes for everything, and i DL a lot of .Flac files, and after i convert them into MP3's, i import them into Itunes, and itunes does the converting to m4a
I do the same as Mikede does and I do have a mac. I can't remember the program that I used to convert them, because I accidentally deleted it and I haven't yet had to go searching for it, but I found it on download.com. That way I can put them onto my iPod. (iPods are much happier when paired with Macs.)
I LOVE my Mac. I've had it less than a year and I will NEVER buy another PC. All of your fears are unfounded. There is plenty of music software available on a Mac. You will have no problems with compatibility. And I guarantee that Mac OS X beats the ever loving crap out of Windows Vista.
I'm a mac convert to, it's been about 4 years now and I love it. Actually I got a new macbook this summer, and have been meaning to download the flac converter again but I've been lazy (also most appear in archive.org in mp3 now as well). It definitely worked on my old powerbook though, so you will be fine with downloading music.
what is this torrent thing you guys speak of? i literally have no idea what that means!
basically it's a fast way to download stuff over the internets, especially large files like movies or entire discographies, bonnaroo sets, things like that
Post by steveternal on Jan 31, 2007 17:54:47 GMT -5
Yeah, right now I use Azureus for torrents, which I love, but I don't know if there's a Mac version of it, or a similar program for Macs.
So far y'all have listed various ways in which I can convert FLACs into other files to play in iTunes... does that mean there's no such program or way to just play the FLACs as they are? That would be strange, surprising and disappointing.
Steveternal - Azureus Rocks!!! There is a program that converts FLAC that i have on my comp, but im not on it now, so that cant help you, but you can probably google a free one to DL
Post by steveternal on Feb 1, 2007 13:38:41 GMT -5
^^^What kind of client is it? What I love about Azureus is that it's Java-based (although I have a very tenuous understanding of what the difference is). Is Tomato a program in which you can manage many torrents at once?
Post by crazykittensmile on Feb 1, 2007 14:26:57 GMT -5
you can download multiple torrents at once, each have their own window though. doesn't sound as snazzy as your previous program but i find it does everything i need it to do
Hmm, I'll check it out, thanks! Incidentally I think I've found that you can download and format (or whatever) Azureus for Mac OSX. crazy, I'd recommend looking into it, Azureus has been an excellent client for me, easy interface and lots of cool things you can do with it.
Post by paranoidbot on Feb 2, 2007 13:50:25 GMT -5
Azureus is generally the best client for MACs. It's super customizable, user friendly, and has a huge support community for trouble shooting.
xACT is a great SHN and FLAC converter for mac. It's a free download out there (just google it).
I've been using Cog for playing FLAC on my g5 without having to convert to wav but it is a bare bones app. It says it works for SHN too but it crashes on me any time I try to use SHN files. So it still nice to be able to DL a show and listen to it in FLAC without converting. It doesn't have any nice tagging or playlist features though so it's just a sparse little player.
I wish Apple would support these formats in future iTunes but with their own Apple Lossless format I don't see them doing that any time soon.
Post by steveternal on Feb 2, 2007 16:02:03 GMT -5
^^^Yeah, that's what I've been wondering about, if there are ways to listen to FLAC and SHN files directly, without having to convert them to mp3 or whatever first. Glad to hear you enjoy Azureus on your Mac, that makes me feel more at ease.
Post by paranoidbot on Feb 5, 2007 10:36:11 GMT -5
MacAmp lite was the main shn / flac player for mac but it is no longer supported or developed so I hope something else steps up to fill the void as it slowly becomes incompatible with new OS specs. www.macamplite.com/
Post by steveternal on Feb 5, 2007 14:21:15 GMT -5
Hmm, that's a shame... you'd think someone would put something together considering the vibrant lossless trading community and the exponentially increasing popularity of Macs. Perhaps Apple is just strongarming those little freeware and open-source dogooders out of their playground. (Too many mixed metaphors?)
Post by jordanblack on Feb 11, 2007 23:44:08 GMT -5
i use azureus as well. its quite easy. i also use a program called max 7.0 to convert the files after azureus downloads. its very simple and then you just add them to itunes. if you dont have a mac, get one! if you can imagine no popups or unwanted websites, and perfect....everything, thats what a mac is. The people at apple spend so much time making products revolutionary and also very user friendly(contrary to popular belief) MAC is the way to go!
i use azureus as well. its quite easy. i also use a program called max 7.0 to convert the files after azureus downloads. its very simple and then you just add them to itunes. if you dont have a mac, get one! if you can imagine no popups or unwanted websites, and perfect....everything, thats what a mac is. The people at apple spend so much time making products revolutionary and also very user friendly(contrary to popular belief) MAC is the way to go!
Karma for that...in fact they should just eliminate PC's all together.
^^^^^I wasted so much time in the past trouble-shooting my PCs. I remember the frustration.. the pain... the worry... the confusion...
The only problems I had with my mac were in the very beginning... I got my Intel mac early on and there was a shortage of software in the beginning. Now, there are no problems. I use Open Office so I didn't have to buy Microsoft Office.
I have an iMac with the wireless keyboard and mighty mouse. Excluding things plugged into my USB ports, the computer has one cord, the power cord. That's it. No wires dangling everywhere for my rabbits to chew on.
Go to apple.com and watch the commercials. Mac owners love them because they are so true.
Post by steveternal on Feb 13, 2007 9:19:39 GMT -5
What I'm getting is a second-hand iMac G5, with (I believe) a 20" monitor. No Intel of course, but even still it will probably be a good 5x faster than my current machine, no hyperbole. It's very strange because ever since I met my wife she's been a Mac-head, even before it became cool, and I would always make fun of her. Now it looks like I'm switching over, and it frightens me!
I use mp3/aac for music, and organize my collection in iTunes, but if you're downloading the less common music file formats check out VLC. It'll play just about anything you want to try.
Post by paranoidbot on Feb 16, 2007 1:56:46 GMT -5
taciturn said:
Another happy Mac geek here.
I use mp3/aac for music, and organize my collection in iTunes, but if you're downloading the less common music file formats check out VLC. It'll play just about anything you want to try.
Azureus is Java isn't it? Then it should be platform independent. It's an awesome client, however I use Opera and it has a built in torrent feature. I'm very lazy and being able to download torrents without having to open another program is nice, even if Opera's torrent is a bit lacking. I really should get in the habit of using Azureus again, but TorrentSpy + Opera = very lazy file sharing
I believe there's a Mac version of Opera availble too. However, you may not want to commit to another web browser, I don't have a Mac but I'm told by my Mac friends that Safari is an awesome broswer.