FLAC Player FAQs
Q: Why does playback stop when my device goes to sleep or the screen locks?
This is a known issue with FLAC Player 1.3.0. An update was submitted on March 29, 2012 that resolves this issue.
Q: How do I load FLAC Files?
First, connect your device to any computer running iTunes 9 or 10. You don't have to sync with this computer. Choose your device in the devices list and look at the Apps tab.
Under the File Sharing section, click on the FLAC Player icon. Drag files (not folders) into the Documents area and they will be copied to FLAC Player.
Next time FLAC Player is opened, these files will be organized into Collections automatically. Collections appear as Folders in iTunes, so you can easily check sizes or delete them.
Starting with version 1.2.0, FLAC Player will also read FLAC metadata so that you can browse your music by Album or Artist.
Q: What kinds of files are supported?
FLAC Player will play FLAC files. Ogg-FLAC is not supported.
Album Art can be added using iOS-compatible image formats (JPEG, PNG, etc). Documents (Text, PDF, RTF, MS Word, etc) are supported as well.
As of version 1.2.0, FLAC Player will read M3U and PLS playlist files into playlists. The playlist files must reference FLAC files that exist on the device.
Album Art will be shown during playback. Document files can be used for track listings, recording lineage, or other information, and are accessed from the Collection Details screen (Tap the name of the Collection in the track list)
Q: How do I load folders/directories of FLAC files?
FLAC Player uses iTunes File sharing to quickly get files into the app using a USB cable. iTunes File Sharing cannot load folders into the app, just files.
iTunes File Sharing greatly simplifies and speeds up the process of loading files into the App, but it does not allow you to add a folder/directory. You can add multiple files at once, or drag-and-drop several batches in a row though.
FLAC Player will take these files and attempt to organize your files into Collections. If your FLACs have proper metadata (tags), this is based on the name of the album. If your FLACs are untagged, FLAC Player will guess, based on common parts of the filenames and when you added them.
If FLAC Player is unable to guess a good collection name, it will simply create a collection named with the date (e.g. Import Nov 25, 2010) and that will contain all the files you added today.
Q: What audio quality is supported?
FLAC Player is built with libFLAC, and has been tested decoding stereo files up to 24-bit/96kHz.
The OS and audio hardware on iOS devices is generally limited to 16-bit/48Khz, so that's generally the highest quality you'll hear, even if you're playing a 24/96 file.
FLAC Player has been engineered to get the audio to the hardware in perfect quality, with a completely gapless listening experience.
Q: What about USB Audio Devices (via iPad Camera Connection Kit)?
FLAC Player does work with USB Audio devices on the iPad. This provides the best output quality available, and some users have confirmed true 96kHz, 24-bit playback on iPad using USB Audio devices under iOS 4.3. See further discussion in this thread at head-fi.org.
Q: What remote controls are supported?
FLAC Player uses the system-wide remote control specification for iOS. If you have a remote that controls the iPod app, it should work just fine. This includes the lock screen and iOS4-multitasking tray controls.
With headphone remote, clicking to pause and skip work just as you'd expect. Dock, car adapter, or Bluetooth* stereo remote controls are supported too.
*Bluetooth Audio devices use lossy compression to transmit audio
Q: Does FLAC Player work on older devices like an iPhone 3G or iPod touch?
FLAC Player requires iOS 4, so the original iPhone and first-generation iPod touch are not supported. The iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch can run iOS 4.2, and are supported.
FLAC Player was extensively tested on an iPhone 3G, and can deliver hours of uninterrupted playback.
Compared to a built-in audio player like the iPod app, FLAC Player uses more CPU and memory to play music. The iPod app uses hardware decoding to play back MP3 and AAC files, which results in lower CPU and memory usage. Audio formats that are not supported by the hardware (FLAC) must be decoded by software, using more CPU and memory. Also, since FLAC is a lossless compression, buffering the compressed audio will use more memory as well.
Devices like the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch have less CPU power and less available memory than more recent ones. This is the reason Apple does not enable multitasking on them, and they are more likely to exhibit playback issues.
If you experience dropouts or skips during playback, it's likely due to low memory or another process taking over the CPU. The following solutions may improve your listening experience:
1. If you use Album Art in FLAC Player, use smaller files or no artwork. Image files use a lot of memory.
2. Reboot your device to free up memory
3. Reduce the frequency of email checking (in the Settings App). You can also disable automatic email checking or try Airplane Mode.
4. Disable searching for WiFi networks
Q: How do I delete FLAC Files?
You can delete collections from the collections screen. Tap Edit, then select one or more collections, and tap the delete button at the bottom of the screen.
You can also delete collections when connected to iTunes. To do so, click the folder in the Documents area and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
In order to delete individual files, you can split a collection (Tap Edit, then Split), then delete the new collection.
Q: How do I shuffle All Songs?
To shuffle all the songs in FLAC Player, start on the Albums tab. Tap the first item (All Songs), then tap any song and turn on shuffle. If you don't see the shuffle icon during playback, tap the center of the screen once.