WAV files in iTunes

Am thinking of getting a Sonos system at some point in the near future - I assume Sonos will playback a WAV file?

Why? Theres no benefit to ripping in WAV. The files will be larger, and afaik wav doesnt support tagging/album art. I would rip to ALAC personally.

I think I'd agree.

Hi daveh75 and al7478,
I wanted to avoid Apple Lossless if possible because it's not supported if I decide to play my music through my PS3 or (more importantly) get a non-apple smart phone, whereas WAV is.
What would you guys use to rip CDs in a lossless format (if not ALAC)?

Also you say it doesnt support tagging/album art but itunes found the artwork correctly - is this different from tagging?

Thanks

I rip everything to FLAC, then have a 256ACC copy for the iPhone while any of my media player can play the FLAC files.

I'd try AIFF too - it supports album art in iTunes.

Yes it is different, iTunes is using its own metadata in this instance, however that metadata can't be exported outside of iTunes as the WAV file format doesn't support it, so as soon as you move the files to a non-Apple device (such as the mobile phone you mentioned) you end up with just the filenames and nothing else.

As mentioned I'd go for FLAC, unless you have a real need to use iTunes (ie iPod compatibility).

The album info and artwork are not actually embedded into the file with WAV. Your i-Tunes is just looking at some library file for the information (I think). If you rip in WAV, Sonos will not be able to see any data so will not show things like 'album title','artist','genre' etc. I am ripping my music in i-Tunes to ALAC with error correction turned on, It embeds the info into the file metadata. This is initially saved on an external hard drive. I then copy over to the NAS which the Sonos reads. I also have a seperate set of folders which have 320 MP3 versions of the songs. These are used for the iPods and a memory stick which is used in the car audio system. I chose MP3 rather than AAC as seems to be compatible with a bigger variety of devices. There are other ways to rip rather than through i-Tunes which other people on here prefer. If you don't go with ALAC then go with FLAC rather than WAV.

Sorry The_Lhc you must have posted whilst I was typing. Better said than me also. Nothing changes there then.

WAV files can contain metadata. You are incorrect to suggest otherwise.

A lossles codec like Flac is probably to use as u save around 50% space.

News to me, beyond very limited support I've never seen one that had proper (ie useful) tagging support.

Of course if you know better feel free to educate...

Yes u can store the metadata in the info chunk, or you can use Adobes XMP standard.

You are of course dependant on the mediaplayer in question implementing these correctly (as with any format).

And how many of them do? #pullingteeth

Technically it seems to be correct that WAV files can be tagged, but not with more than the track's name, as WAV files don't usually support fields.

Admittedly, this is from a quick read on Wiki.

Thanks everyone for the input - looks like WAV is off the menu. will look into the other suggestions (ALAC, AIFF ad FLAC) instead