
Preferences
Pro Audio Converter offeres a number of preferences to customize it's behavior. Here is a description of the various preferences offered:
General
Output Directory – The directory where encoded files will be written to. If you are using a custom naming scheme with directories, the base directory of the custom naming scheme will start in this directory.
Preserve input File's Directory Structure – This will keep the directory structre of the files that you add to the queue. So, if you drop a folder called "Music" onto the queue, and that folder has several sub-folders of audio files, PAC will create a "Music" folder in your output directory and re-create the same folder structure for the output files.
Overwrite Existing Output Files – When checked, output files that already exist will be overwritten on encoding. If not checked and an output file already exists, Pro Audio Converter will generate a unique filename by appending a number series to the end. For example if “My Song.mp3” already exists, it would generate “My Song 01.mp3”
Prompt Before Overwriting Existing Output Files – If an output file already exists, you will be prompted before it is overwritten. You will be presented with three choices of how to proceed. You can choose to overwrite the file, not overwrite the file, or skip the file completely. Choosing to not overwrite the file will result in a unique filename. You will also have the option to apply your choice to all subsequent files in the batch.
Delete Original – When checked, this will move the original file to the trash once the encoding is complete. If you are only updating metadata the original file will not be deleted.
Open Output Directory When Finished – This will open the output directory in a Finder window when the entire queue is finished encoding.
Use A Custom Output File Naming Scheme – This allows you to specify a custom output file name and folder structure based on various properies of the input file. Use keywords enclosed in brackets to build your folder and file structure. The keywords will be replaced with the actual information from the input file when it is encoded. See the secion on setting up a custom folder and file name structrue for more information.
Use Two-Digit Track And Disc Numbers – This will force track number, track total, disc number, and disc total values to use two digit numbers. For example 01 instead of 1.
Metadata
Write Metadata To Encoded Files – If this option is disabled, no metadata will be added to encoded files.
Rename Files When Updating Metadata Only - When updating the metadata of source files, this will apply the custom naming scheme to the file.
Fallback To Filename When Title Field Is Empty - When using a custom naming scheme, and the Track Title field is empty, Track Title will be replaced with the source file's name.
Write "Encoded By" Information To Files - When enabled, PAC will write "Encoded By" metadata information to output files.
Write Format String To Comments - Allows you to write a string of your choosing to the comments metadata field of the output file. For example, you may want to write the encoder settings that were used or the source file type that the output file was made from.
MP3 Metadata Types To Write: Allows you to select which tag types to write when saving MP3 files. You can select either ID3v2.3 or ID3v2.4 using various text encodings. ID3v2.4 UTF8 is the most current standard. Some older devices may only support ID3v2.3 Latin 1.
Preserve Broadcast WAV Data (BEXT Chunk) - If the source file has Broadcast WAV data, and the output file is a WAV file, PAC will write the Broadcast WAV data to the output file.
Album Artwork
Save Album Artwork To File Named – This will save the album artwork as a file. The file will go in the same folder as the destination audio file. You can name the file however you like and choose to save it as a PNG, JPEG, or TIFF image.
Read Album Artwork From File Named – Enabling this will cause Pro Audio Converter to look for album artwork in a file when there is no artwork in the metadata. Pro Audio Converter searches the same folder that the source file is in. You can use a '*' to match wildcards when searching. Pro Audio Converter will use the first file found that matches the name given.
iTunes
Add Encoded Tracks To iTunes Library -This will add supported output files to your iTunes library. Currently supported file types are: AIFF, AIFC, AAC, Apple Lossless, MP3, WAV.
Add Encoded Tracks To Playlist Named – Checking this will also add suppored iTunes tracks to a playlist. You can type in the name of an existing playlist, or use the custom naming scheme format specifiers to create playlists based on track information. See the secion on setting up a custom folder and file name structrue for more information on how the format specifiers work.
Queue
Keep Files In Queue After Encoding – Files will be left in the queue once encoding is complete.
Keep Files In Queue After Updating Metadata – Files will be left in the queue after updating the source file metadata. See the section on using Pro Audio Converter as a tag editor for more information.
Skip Encodings Where The Input And Output Types Are The Same – When checked, Pro Audio Converter will skip over source files that are of the same type as the destination file. For example, if you are encoding MP3 files, this wil skip over all MP3 source files in the queue.
Maximum Number of Simultaneous Encoders – Selects the maximum number of simultaneous encoding operations. This is limited to the number of processor cores your system has. Decreasing this number will decrease the load on your system, but take longer to encode a batch.
Error Log
Show Error Log Immediately When Error Occurs – When checked, the error log window will be shown as soon as the first error occurs, instead of at the end of the encode process.