[epaludo]

I keep my files in FLAC format once i own 2 irivers and a cowon besides ipods. Well FLAC is more versatile and i can easily convert FLAC to ALAC using dbpoweramp ...

 

[Turgidson]

FLAC is lossless and supported by various players (but not iPod, excepted with Rockbox but last generation is not rockbox-able), and being open source one can hope it'll still be supported for newer generation of hardware and software.

ALAC is also lossless, but Apple-proprietary though the codec is free for downloading. I'd say it's useful if your player is a non-rockboxed iPod (well, seems to be the case), otherwise there's no reason not to choose FLAC.

There's no reason to choose WAV, which is not compressed and takes much more place, in addition to having no tags.

Anyway, as both FLAC and ALAC are lossless, they can be used for archiving (as long as compatible codecs and hardware are still provided, of course).

 

[legless]

Ye I'm using a stock iPod without an amp. Have to wait a little longer b4 getting my SR80s my wallet is currently undergoing renovation.

 

[spraggih]

Here is something strange. If I rip to ALAC and tag then convert to WAV within iTunes the tags are maintained.

Why would anyone rip to ALAC and then WAV? Because some wireless media players can only fast-forward, rewind within a track for WAV, FLAC and some other formats-- but none of the Apple formats.

So why not just rip to FLAC? Because I am committed to iTunes and my iPod and so the only format that allows me to use via iTunes, highest sound quality, has tagging, would have a wireless media player (e.g., Squeezebox) fast-forward within a track is ALAC --> WAV.

What do you all think?

 

[E.B.M.Head]

What about WavPack, Monkey Audio, OptimFrog, LA, TTA, WMA Lossless, Real Lossless, TAC, LPAC, RKAU, Shorten, MPEG4 ALS ... ?

No, serious: ALAC is the way to go if you got an iPod, FLAC if you got an other player that supports FLAC. WavPack is also great, as it's compression is a bit better than FLAC and ALAC while not taking ages to compress like OptimFrog or LA do (which squeeze your files only a little bit better like 0,01%) and offers a nice hybrid mode: You can also compress your files lossy to a bitrate you specify, but you also get a correction file that adds the lost bits and makes it lossless if you have both files. This would be ideal for home listening (where you have both files) and portable listening (where you just copy the lossy file). Sadly there aren't much players yet which support WavPack. Also WinZip 11.0 (and higher) is using WavPack for compressing Wav Files.

 

[Solan]

Monkey's Audio (.APE) makes up to 10% smaller files at best compression than FLAC. I prefer FLAC, though, since it's non-proprietary, is supported by more players, and disk space is cheap.

For portable use, I rarely find myself able to discern between lossless and high-quality lossy, so while I keep the files stored as FLAC, I code down to a lossy format (usually OGG at around 400 mbits/sec) for portable playback. I recommend similar schemes for your iPod unless you have a set-up enabling you to hear the difference, and then you're not bound to ALAC, but can choose whichever format is best for your stationary player (PC or whatnot).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Monkey's Audio (.APE) makes up to 10% smaller files at best compression than FLAC. I prefer FLAC, though, since it's non-proprietary, is supported by more players, and disk space is cheap. For portable use, I rarely find myself able to discern between lossless and high-quality lossy, so while I keep the files stored as FLAC, I code down to a lossy format (usually OGG at around 400 mbits/sec) for portable playback. I recommend similar schemes for your iPod unless you have a set-up enabling you to hear the difference, and then you're not bound to ALAC, but can choose whichever format is best for your stationary player (PC or whatnot).

FLAC has a higher tolerance for errors, and APE decoding is a CPU hog.
Some discussion on the topic
Hydrogenaudio Forums > FLAC vs APE

 

[Solan]

Thanks, Andrew. Yet another good argument for choosing FLAC over APE.