Options for controlling LMS

[d6jg]

So is this a bug, and should a ticket be raised?

I know FLAC is the standard, but I've got to assume that most of the apple users out there do as they're told and use ALAC, so it's not an insignificant number of people.

I've got a RoPieee install so I guess I could try that.

You need to read the post on slimdevices. It seems that different rippers make ALAC files in two different ways. One puts the index info at the beginning of the file and these will be playable others stick it at the end meaning the whole file needs to be loaded before the player knows what to do with it. Id say that’s a flaw in ALAC format that can’t be fixed.

 

[d6jg]

PS I don’t understand why default works but material doesn’t. It shouldn’t make any difference

 

[simbun]

You need to read the post on slimdevices. It seems that different rippers make ALAC files in two different ways. One puts the index info at the beginning of the file and these will be playable others stick it at the end meaning the whole file needs to be loaded before the player knows what to do with it. Id say that’s a flaw in ALAC format that can’t be fixed.

I read it briefly but it didn't sound very conclusive.
I created mine with dBpoweramp but I'll have a look as I know there was mention of a way to convert them.

 

[simbun]

PS I don’t understand why default works but material doesn’t. It shouldn’t make any difference

It doesn't for me.

 

[AlanB]

Is this after you'd disabled native playback, as they weren't working on the default interface for me. The track progress moved but I wasn't getting any sound.

It was before I disabled playback.

 

[AlanB]

You need to read the post on slimdevices. It seems that different rippers make ALAC files in two different ways. One puts the index info at the beginning of the file and these will be playable others stick it at the end meaning the whole file needs to be loaded before the player knows what to do with it. Id say that’s a flaw in ALAC format that can’t be fixed.

My ALACs were created using iTunes from 2010 onwards.

Maybe the problem is Apple changing the format to ensure you use their products?

 

[Brantome]

I don’t think Apple added DRM protection to anything you ripped via iTunes, and thought anyway they had stopped using DRM in iTunes before then. Are these definitely the original files you ripped, or ones you downloaded from iTunes/Aple Music after using iMatch? If the latter, they might be DRM protected.

 

[d6jg]

I don’t think Apple added DRM protection to anything you ripped via iTunes, and thought anyway they had stopped using DRM in iTunes before then. Are these definitely the original files you ripped, or ones you downloaded from iTunes/Aple Music after using iMatch? If the latter, they might be DRM protected.

@AlanB did these work with your old Squeezeboxen?

 

[simbun]

You need to read the post on slimdevices. It seems that different rippers make ALAC files in two different ways. One puts the index info at the beginning of the file and these will be playable others stick it at the end meaning the whole file needs to be loaded before the player knows what to do with it. Id say that’s a flaw in ALAC format that can’t be fixed.

The ffmpeg command didn't work for me. In the output you can see it's 'moving the moov atom to the beginning of the file', I assume that was the intention.

Does anybody have any ALAC files that do work?
I'll try on PoPieee.

 

[d6jg]

The ffmpeg command didn't work for me. In the output you can see it's 'moving the moov atom to the beginning of the file', I assume that was the intention.

Does anybody have any ALAC files that do work?
I'll try on PoPieee.

The LMS forum post is about making ALAC play in Squeezelite generally but I’m not sure the version WiiM has implemented will work anyway. It’s a typical Apple muddle.
A ticket is raised so no doubt WiiM can properly investigate.
I would just bite the bullet and convert as it’s bound to be some time before they fix and even then it may only be for one type of ALAC

 

[simbun]

I had a pCP SD card in the Pi and that played both sets of files without any problems, so unfortunately it's the WiiM implementation.

 

[d6jg]

I had a pCP SD card in the Pi and that played both sets of files without any problems, so unfortunately it's the WiiM implementation.

I think I agree but I’d still convert to FLAC rather than wait.

 

[simbun]

Obviously FLAC over ALAC if he has no use case where he needs them in ALAC.

Not sure why he couldn't get it transcoding to PCM though as that appeared stable in my limited testing.

I guess I'd better try pCP and transcoding to FLAC as that was causing LMS to crash with the WiiM.

 

[d6jg]

Obviously FLAC over ALAC if he has no use case where he needs them in ALAC.

Not sure why he couldn't get it transcoding to PCM though as that appeared stable in my limited testing.

I guess I'd better try pCP and transcoding to FLAC as that was causing LMS to crash with the WiiM.

I will be doing similar tomorrow.
I stated a couple of times that I have no ALACs but I have found that I do actually have a few albums in my live library but I had never noticed they wouldn’t play on the WiiM. I guess I’d never tried to play them.
I will move an album into my dev library on pCP and test accordingly.

 

[Mike in NY]

I will be doing similar tomorrow.
I stated a couple of times that I have no ALACs but I have found that I do actually have a few albums in my live library but I had never noticed they wouldn’t play on the WiiM. I guess I’d never tried to play them.
I will move an album into my dev library on pCP and test accordingly.

I have some ALAC files that are very old CD rips using iTunes. They do not play on a WiiM Pro Plus as Squeezelite renderer, just as @AlanB describes, progress alternates between 0 and 1 second elapsed and no sound.

The LMS is a pCP instance running on Raspberry Pi 4B, Material skin. These same ALAC files play back trouble free to other Squeezelite renderers including pCP, and Moode.

 

[Mike in NY]

If I disable the ALAC file type in the LMS settings, the tracks do play on the WiiM Pro Plus.
The only indication of what is then playing on the WiiM Home App just says 16 bits, 44.1kHz:

 

[simbun]

If I disable the ALAC file type in the LMS settings, the tracks do play on the WiiM Pro Plus.
The only indication of what is then playing on the WiiM Home App just says 16 bits, 44.1kHz:

I'm performing this from a browser so it may be different, but in playlist view, if you click on the vertical ellipses next to the playing track and choose 'More > More Info' you should see in the Bitrate field that it's being converted to FLAC e.g. '824kbps VBR (Converted to 705kbps FLAC)'.

If you skip to the next track does it work? With LMS on Windows and the WiiM Pro or pCP it crashes on me. If that works for you can you seek within the track?

 

[d6jg]

I have some ALAC files that are very old CD rips using iTunes. They do not play on a WiiM Pro Plus as Squeezelite renderer, just as @AlanB describes, progress alternates between 0 and 1 second elapsed and no sound.

The LMS is a pCP instance running on Raspberry Pi 4B, Material skin. These same ALAC files play back trouble free to other Squeezelite renderers including pCP, and Moode.

@Mike in NY - If you convert to FLAC do they play OK?

 

[d6jg]

@AlanB - if you haven't already got it then I'd recommend Foobar2000 to do so converting. You will also need the Codec pack.

https://www.foobar2000.org/getfile/foobar2000-x64_v2.0.exe (64bit)
https://www.foobar2000.org/getfile/foobar2000_v2.0.exe (32bit)

https://www.foobar2000.org/files/Free_Encoder_Pack-2023-07-05.exe

 

[AlanB]

@AlanB did these work with your old Squeezeboxen?

Yes, and strangely I have turned my laptop on this morning and Material Skin is working with the ALAC files I have tried so far both as a localhost from the laptop and on my mobile phone. Perhaps it just needed the laptop rebooting?

If it stays like this I will be happy. This screenshot is from my mobile phone showing one of the albums I have that is not available on Amazon Music.

The second screenshot shows the album playing on the WiiM App at 16/44.1.