[Mezevenf]

I've recently been using FLAC for compression...

What does everyone else use? What is overall census for the "best" codec?

 

[Uncle Erik]

I've got music in ALAC, FLAC, Ogg, and AAC. I use both a Mac and a Linux box as sources.

For lossy, Ogg sounds better than AAC, but AAC isn't bad. I much prefer it to MP3.

I don't hear a difference between FLAC and ALAC, however. I think both are excellent.

 

[Mezevenf]

I think I'll have to start looking for a ogg player...

There are no lossless players out there are there?

 

[glenmorangie]

i thought there were no differences between the lossless

if there is a diff..they shouldnt call it lossless

 

[fewtch]

Other than size of the resulting files, there are no differences between lossless formats. I believe Monkeys Audio (.ape) compresses the best, although it's only a small lead over the others.

 

[majid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mezevenf I think I'll have to start looking for a ogg player... There are no lossless players out there are there?

The iPods play Apple lossless since the 3G iPod, although the buffer memory on the 3G at least is sized for AAC and does not have enough capacity for more than a couple seconds of ALAC, and will occasionally skip. The nano does fine, I don't know about the 5G.

 

[mnhnhyouh]

Because of the forum I think I would recommend Foobar as one of the better lossless players.

As for portable ones, iRiver H1xx and H3xx play .wav natively, but both, and the iPod and iAudio play a wide range of codecs with Rockbox.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockbox wiki MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AC3, AAC, Musepack, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, Shorten, WAV, and Wavpack

h

 

[Sycraft]

Any lossless format is bit identicle and impossible to tell apart. The only considerations are what support you find for them. For example if you are interested in using an iPod, ALAC is probably the way to go. For just PC playback, FLAC is a good choice.

Winamp will play FLAC just fine, just install the plugin, as will foobar.

If you want hardware to play FLAC files, have a look at flac.sourceforge.net, they list compatible players and there are quite a few.

If you've the space FLAC is a good choice since, being losless, there's no way to get an improvement in sound quality. If space is more a premium, OGG Vorbis is a good choice. At 256kbit you'd need an absolutly top shelf system to hear any difference, and it compresses 6:1, as opposed to FLAC's usual 2:1. Again Winamp and Foobar handle Ogg, and you can install DirectShow codecs that will allow Windows Media Player and any other DS aware app (Media Player Classic, Sony Vegas, etc) to use it.

 

[Mezevenf]

Thanks for the replies, now that I've gotten a few cd's in FLAC, does anyone know if you can get decent tags happening for WMP or winamp using FLAC?

I really like using WMP, but the lack-o-tags with FLAC can get annoying.

*EDIT* Just got it going then!

Thanks again for the replies, and especially that link to flac hardware.

 

[Chri5peed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mezevenf Thanks for the replies, now that I've gotten a few cd's in FLAC, does anyone know if you can get decent tags happening for WMP or winamp using FLAC? I really like using WMP, but the lack-o-tags with FLAC can get annoying.

FLAC uses the same tags as mp3s or AAC...

A ripper like EAC will automatically tag albums for you, afterwards there are plenty of tagging programs available. Like 'Tag&Rename', although thats not free.

 

[m_memmory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mezevenf I think I'll have to start looking for a ogg player... There are no lossless players out there are there?

There are plenty of lossless players on the market. Apple's iPods will play ALAC. Cowon players will play FLAC and anything that can run rockbox will play either.

 

[Cjattwood]

I use FLAC here too, great codec, but for portable use I just make an MP3 from the original FLAC file, it's fine for portable uses where you'll most likely lose sound quality anyways from other factors (outside noise etc)

 

[Chri5peed]

*Whispers* Lossless on Portables is usually overkill. Not only are you using much more space, you probably won't hear the difference.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majid The iPods play Apple lossless since the 3G iPod, although the buffer memory on the 3G at least is sized for AAC and does not have enough capacity for more than a couple seconds of ALAC, and will occasionally skip. The nano does fine, I don't know about the 5G.

That's not quite true. The 3G has 32mb flash memory, which even in ALAC is enough for a lot more than a few seconds. At usual compression rates, that's more than 6 minutes of buffer storage. The 3G does have some issues with skipping, however that is not because of a lack of memory. My 3G skips every so often when stationary on a table in the dock...

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chri5peed *Whispers* Lossless on Portables is usually overkill. Not only are you using much more space, you probably won't hear the difference.

Using IEM's? I find it very audible. Also don't forget that a portable is often a way of taking all your music from one place to another, where you may be able to output either throught the line out, or even better digitally through a computer. It's great to keep lossless for those reasons as well...

Though, my lossless library has just gone over the magic 60gb capacity of the iPod, so I'm waiting for an 80g player before I upgrade my ageing 3G.