1. Download & Install
A. Foobar:
http://www.foobar2000.org/download
B. QAAC
http://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/cabinet
You want the TOP zip folder
Extract it to a place that’s easy to find.
Copy the address ( for example C:\Users\USERNAME\DOWNLOADS\foobar components\qaac_0.18_2\qaac_0.18_2\qaac.exe)
C. Get these 2 DLL files if you don’t already have them if you have win7 probably already on your system
http://www.dlldll.com/msvcp71.dll_download.html
http://www.dlldll.com/msvcr71.dll_download.html
I put them in my ‘c:\windows\syswow64’ folder, but you may get away with putting them in the qaac folder.
D. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE QUICKTIME INSTALLED ON YOUR SYSTEM! The free version is sufficient.
3. Once you get foobar installed, go to PREFERENCES > CONTEXT MENU, and on the RIGHT SIDE, you will check the box for CONVERT
4. Right-Click any one of the songs you wanna convert. JUST ONE, tho. Select CONVERT.
5. In the dialog box, select “…”
6. For OUTPUT FORMAT
A. ADD NEW, then pull down the option to CUSTOM
B. for ENCODER, press CTRL + V to paste the address of QAAC
C. EXTENTION is m4a
D. PARAMETERS
1. for Unconstrained VBR at about 300kbps-350kbps, enter this
-V 127 –quality 2 -o %d –
The 127 adjusts bitrate. Changing it to 59 will yield about 128kbps
2. For Apple Lossless, enter
–no-optimize –alac –silent –ignorelength – -o %d
E. BIT DEPTH CONTROL] change these options to LOSSY if AAC, or LOSSLESS if ALAC and 24
F. ENCODER NAME is QuickTimeAAC
G. BITRATE (kbps) is 320; for ALAC, just leave it blank.
H. SETTING is True VBR Quality 127(or whatever you choose); or ALAC
7. For DESTINATION
A. Output Path This one’s entirely up to you. I use SPECIFY FOLDER, then something like this:
C:\Users\USERNAME\Music\999\03 – AAC CONVERSIONS
(I keep a shortcut to 999 on my desktop for easy access.)
B. Output Style and file name formatting
I do this:
%album artist%/[‘[‘%date%’]’]%album%/[%discnumber%-]%track% – %title%
Which yields, something like this
C:\Users\ASSFACE\Music\999\03 – AAC CONVERSIONS\Joe Satriani\[1987] Surfing with the Alien (Remastered)\1-01 – Surfing With the Alien.m4a
8. For PROCESSING
A. TURN THAT SHIT OFF!
9. For OTHER
A. I set it to do nothing when finished.
10. SAVE Save your preset so you don’t have to do this bullshit again.
CONGRATULATIONS! You now can use FOOBAR200 to tag and convert FLAC to AAC and ALAC!!!! Your iPod will thank you