[Thecoolguy]

hi there.  im a noob when it comes to audio files and i have some questions about flac audio files.
 
what exactly is flac and whats so special about it
 
how can i get flac audio files
 
does the itouch 3rd gen support flac audio files
 
is there a way to convert itunes purchases to flac format?
 
thanks in advance

 

[krmathis]

FLAC is short for Free Lossless Audio Codec.
As the name imply it is an audio codec, which encodes without data loss (lossless) and is provided for free (no cost, and source code available). Nothing "special" about that, as there are many other lossless and free audio codecs out there.
 
You can get FLAC files in many ways:
* Rip Audio CDs
* Download online (buy or for free)
* Transcode from different format
* Other
 
The iPod touch do not support FLAC. It support ALAC (Apple Lossless) though
 
You can convert files bought from iTunes Store, but it is just a waste of time and storage space. Since files from iTunes Store is lossy AAC files, and hence lots of audio data were thrown away during encoding and are lost forever.
You are much better off getting "real" FLAC files using one of the methods mentioned above.

 

[khaos974]

 
Quote:

hi there.  im a noob when it comes to audio files and i have some questions about flac audio files.
 
what exactly is flac and whats so special about it Open source lossless format, probably the most popular one
 
how can i get flac audio files Rip your own CDs, most websites selling losslessly compressed music use flac
 
does the itouch 3rd gen support flac audio files No
 
is there a way to convert itunes purchases to flac format? Yes, Max on OSX or Foobar/Xrecode on Windows will do so, on the other hand it's USELESS to convert a lossy file into a lossless one.
 
thanks in advance

And don't forget that the search function is your friend, whether directly on head-fi or with google.

 

[Thecoolguy]

thanks for the replies. i have tried searching head fi and google but I haven't been able to find anything
 
EDIT-grammar

 

[beeman458]

Thecoolguy wrote:
 
hi there.  im a noob when it comes to audio files and i have some questions about flac audio files.
 
i have tried searching head fi and google but have found nothing.
 
"FLAC"
 
Hope the above helps.
 

 

[Nocholas]

see this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec
you can collect some details about FLAC

 

[krmathis]

And here is another great source of information - http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Flac

 

[Thecoolguy]

Thanks for the link krmathis.



@beemam really? I'm not stupid. I tried googling FLAC. By "nothing" I meant answers to those questions, which is why I asked here.





Anywho, I have one more question. Do you had to rip from CDs to get FLAC files, or is therea website I can get the files from

 

[Radio_head]

There are a few. for sites, hdtracks.com, linn, rhino.com are a good start.  My personal feeling is once you're going lossless, you may as well get the physical album itself.  Additionally, buying used (in like new condition) from places like amazon ebay etc is often cheaper then downloading.

 

[c61746961]

Well, unless you live in a country where it is allowed to freely distribute bootlegs of commercial albums (not the US), you're better off producing them from original audio CDs or buying them online. And no, you can't ask for links to places where such files are distributed freely around here.

 

[khaos974]

The answer you were looking for are all over the web, even if you have to deduce them from the general properties of the FLAC format, which is what all those websites are about, rather than having them directly spelled out for you like we do on this forum.
 
There are are quite a bit of flac selling stores on the web, HDTracks, Linn Records, Magmatunes, Boomkat, but most of those have a limited selection, they are usually specialized in classical, jazz, or electronica. 7Digital has the greatest variety of music, but only a few releases are available in FLAC. For a greater variety of choice, I'd stick to ripping CDs for the moment.
 
Unfortunately , the greatest variety of FLAC music on the web remains illegal downloads and forums, end of line.

 

[beeman458]

Thecoolguy wrote:
 
@beemam really? I'm not stupid. I tried googling FLAC.
 
I only have what you write to go by and this is what you wrote:
 
hi there.  im a noob when it comes to audio files and i have some questions about flac audio files.
 
what exactly is flac and whats so special about it
 
how can i get flac audio files
 
The basic nature of your questions showed me you hadn't been trying, hence the validity of the link.  I wasn't trying to be flip or treat you in a disrespectful fashion.  Based upon the level of your questions, the link, if used, will be helpful in answering your questions.
 

 

[Thecoolguy]

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to order a Fuze and a few CDs with some leftover Barns and Noble store credit. Also, on the FLAC site I saw some recommended programs used to rip CDs here, but I was wondering if anyone could recommend any programs or players. I'm using Windows XP

 

[beeman458]

EAC should get along well with Windows XP.  Doesn't play and get along well with Windows 7 x64.

 

[QRomo]

 
Quote:

EAC should get along well with Windows XP.  Doesn't play and get along well with Windows 7 x64.

Bit off topic, but I've been running EAC (v 0.99 prebeta 5) in Win7 x64 without any problems. Though, to be fair, I've only ripped 10 or so CDs since making the switch.