Ubuntu – How to convert WMA lossless to FLAC

I think the issue could be the tags that CD Rippers use - they usually create ID3v2.4 tags which some Zens can't handle.

Possible Solution 1

Asunder CD ripper will rip to either ID3v1 or ID3v2.x tag format depending upon the information on the CD.

Install asunder and lame from the software center.

Run asunder - and select the preferences button followed by the Encode tab.

Tick the MP3 checkbox and uncheck the ogg checkbox.

Then rip your CD.

Possible Solution 2

Use Banshee or another tool to import your CD. Banshee will tag your mp3 in ID3v2.4 format

Correcting ID3 Tag information

Since Asunder will sometimes not write ID3v2.3 tags and Banshee will write to a tag format that your Zen will not understand, you will need to use another application to correct the tag format.

EasyTag is such a program - just to confuse everyone, there are two versions in the Software Center. Check EasyTag - Help - About - Extensions. If it says v2.3 support is disabled, then install the other "easytag" in the software center - on natty this is version 2.1.6.

Ensure EasyTag Settings - Preferences look like this:

1. highlight the file or files and add some text to the comment field. N.B. you can use the usual shift - click method to highlight multiple files.
2. click the save button - a prompt should display indicating that it would like to write the changed tag information back to the file. Click Yes

Transfer to your Zen and confirm that the tag information is displayed correctly.

Converting WMA to OGG in VLC

• Open VLC Media Player; if you do not have VLC on your computer already, you can install it by opening a terminal window and typing "sudo apt-get install vlc."
• Go to "Media" and "Convert/Save." You can also access the window by pressing "Ctrl" and "R" on your computer.
• Click "Add" from under "File Selection" and select the WMA file that you want to convert.
• Click the "Convert/Save" button.
• Type the file name for the new OGG file in the "Destination File:" box, including the extension; for instance, "my_wma_filename.ogg."
• Select the profile "Audio - Vorbis (OGG)" from under Settings.
• Click "Start." Do not close VLC until the conversion is complete. It should be saved in your /home/username directory.

Converting WMA to OGG Using Dir2OGG

• Install dir2ogg by typing "sudo apt-get install dir2ogg" in a new terminal window.
• Type "dir2ogg my_wma_filename.wma" in the terminal window once installation is completed. Make sure that your WMA file is in the /home/username directory, and remove any spaces from the file name.
• If converting a directory, use dir2ogg -a /path/to/dir
• Close the terminal window once the conversion is complete. The display will read "Done encoding file "/home/username/my_wma_filename.ogg" along with the file length, elapsed time, rate and average bit rate. The "my_wma_filename.ogg" file will in the same folder as the original WMA file.