Playing your download on the Mac and in iTunes 

If you are a Mac user, then we recommend downloading in FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format.

We choose to sell music in FLAC because it is completely free from restrictions of any type. It has no DRM (Digital Rights Management) to restrict your use of the music you own, and because it is open source it is free to be supported by manufacturers of any player of any type, both now and in the future. There will always be a way to use music stored in this format and no way for any company, including Linn, to tie you to a particular type of system to enjoy the music you have invested in.

The question is though, why won't FLAC files play in iTunes? Well, that is largely down to Apple. They only want you to use their own Apple Lossless (ALAC) file type. Their business works on a 'closed loop' basis, and they are more than happy to give iTunes away for free, but restrict its use to a narrow set of file types, and hardware - like iPods.

So, you have two options, either play your music on a different player loaded onto your Mac, or convert your files into a type that iTunes will play.

For a different player, I would recommend you take a look at an alternative to iTunes called SongBird. It has a familiar iTunes type of interface and works in a very similar way, but the good news is that it supports FLAC files - so no need to do any conversion. Plus it works with your iTunes library as well, so you can even use them both side by side with minimum fuss!

The second option is to convert your downloaded FLAC files into an iTunes ‘friendly’ file type, like ALAC. To do this there is a handy free bit of Mac software called XLD which does a great job of converting the files into a type that iTunes is happy with, and can even add them to your iTunes library automatically.

An even better solution

We would of course encourage you to consider an even better solution than a Mac to play your music. A Linn DS player will allow you to store your music wherever you like, in a format of your choice, control it with any device (Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad etc.) and play the music where you want in your home, without being tied to your computer. And, of course, the sound is spectacular.