I was interested in trying the iTunes substitute called AyreWave to see if I could hear any improvement in the sound over iTunes. I kept trying to load songs that I had just created with VinylStudio (in Apple Lossless format), but AyreWave kept crashing as soon as I selected a song.
By chance, I tried loading a file in Apple Lossless format that had been imported into iTunes from a commercial CD, and to my surprise the file loaded without a problem. Next, I successfully loaded another Apple Lossless file that I had recorded from vinyl on a Tascam CD recorder in AIFF format and then imported/saved into iTunes in ALAC format.
So, it appears that the ALAC files created from within VinylStudio have something out-of-spec that can cause some programs to choke. I should note that I've also experimented with the program Pure Music, which is also an iTunes substitute, and have not had any problems with my VS files.
It would be interesting to know how an ALAC file created by iTunes differs from ALAC created by VinylStudio.
The files I created in VS were recorded in both AIFF and ALAC formats (44.1 KHz, 16 bit) and saved as ALAC, 44.1 KHz, 16 bit. The iTunes versions used to import the VS songs date from whatever was current in mid-October, 2010. Previous versions of iTunes used to import files I recorded with the Tascam date from about December, 2009.
Happy New Year everyone--Steve