Question about FLAC files
Oct 10, 2005 at 8:23 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 19

calvinhobs

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I'm going to get some music from AllofMP3.com and was thinking about getting them all in FLAC. Can FLAC files be placed on a cd that can play in standard cd players? Or can I convert them to WAV files to be put on a cd? Or is my only option to just get them in MP3 and then burn it to a CD and put it in a cd player that plays MP3 cds.

If I can play FLAC files or convert them to MP3s then that'd be perfect...I could still get CD quality to play through my main system and I could take the files I download and convert them then to 320kbps MP3's. Any ideas?
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 8:33 PM Post #2 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by calvinhobs
I'm going to get some music from AllofMP3.com and was thinking about getting them all in FLAC. Can FLAC files be placed on a cd that can play in standard cd players? Or can I convert them to WAV files to be put on a cd?


You can convert (or rather, decompress) them to WAV files. They can't be played on a standard CD player.
Quote:

Or is my only option to just get them in MP3 and then burn it to a CD and put it in a cd player that plays MP3 cds.


I wonder if the FLACs on allofmp3 are from the original CD's, or if they made the FLACs from MP3's. If the latter, you'd be just as well grabbing the MP3's and saving yourself some download time.
Quote:

If I can play FLAC files or convert them to MP3s then that'd be perfect...I could still get CD quality to play through my main system and I could take the files I download and convert them then to 320kbps MP3's. Any ideas?


You can convert FLAC to MP3 with some programs. Or at least, decompress to .WAV first and then encode to MP3.
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 8:41 PM Post #3 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch
You can convert (or rather, decompress) them to WAV files. They can't be played on a standard CD player.

I wonder if the FLACs on allofmp3 are from the original CD's, or if they made the FLACs from MP3's. If the latter, you'd be just as well grabbing the MP3's and saving yourself some download time.

You can convert FLAC to MP3 with some programs. Or at least, decompress to .WAV first and then encode to MP3.




Thanks, well, I'm using LAME right now so would that work for what I need? I'm thinking it'd be nice to kill 2 birds with 1 stone so to speak...to take the files and use them for my main system and then just be able to use them on my portable system. I think I might give it a shot...any more advice?
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 9:27 PM Post #4 of 19
In response to fewtch: Im pretty sure there actually from the cd's, as i can tell a difference from a 320kb and flac file from there. Also they damn well better be, because paying 7-8$ for a flac album when i could get it for 1.50-2.00 in 320kb i would be pretty upset.
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Oct 10, 2005 at 9:29 PM Post #5 of 19
allofmp3.com does rip the songs straight from a cd, atleast for the OEEX albums

to play in most cd players, you'd have to convert them to wav and then burn as a audio cd (nero can convert and burn the flacs to audio cd's automatically also)
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 9:49 PM Post #6 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jakets
In response to fewtch: Im pretty sure there actually from the cd's, as i can tell a difference from a 320kb and flac file from there. Also they damn well better be, because paying 7-8$ for a flac album when i could get it for 1.50-2.00 in 320kb i would be pretty upset.
orphsmile.gif



Well, if it's $7-$8 per FLAC file I might just go with the mp3's like you said. I could find the cd's for about the same price for most of my music. I normally just like a handful of songs from any given CD so it actually would be a better deal for me if I just downloaded those to FLAC and then convert them to WAVs for my home set-up and then use LAME to get them down to 320kbps. I think I'm going to do that... Thanks for all the help on how to do this everyone
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Oct 10, 2005 at 10:00 PM Post #7 of 19
Umm, you can use any audio file to create an Audio CD, i.e. one that plays in any player.

The only difference is that you can only have 70mins of mp3 files or 70mins of FLAC/WAV files.
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 10:12 PM Post #8 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jakets
In response to fewtch: Im pretty sure there actually from the cd's, as i can tell a difference from a 320kb and flac file from there. Also they damn well better be, because paying 7-8$ for a flac album when i could get it for 1.50-2.00 in 320kb i would be pretty upset.
orphsmile.gif



they aren't. they are mp3s at 384 k that are transcoded. iirc. That is why you can most likely tell the difference because of the quantisation errors from transcoding. but hey...

Quote:

Originally Posted by found on misticriver forum
I have asked their tech-support and they claim "AllOfMP3 only transcodes from the appropriate format". Therefore, if you specify Q6 OGG, you'll receive a Q6 OGG transcoded from a Q10 OGG; however, if you specify 128 MP3, you'll receive a 128 MP3 transcoded from a 300+ MP3.


I guess this means that there flac files should be okay, but you never know. If they supposedly transcode their mp3's.
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 10:16 PM Post #9 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman
they aren't. they are mp3s at 384 k that are transcoded. iirc. That is why you can most likely tell the difference because of the quantisation errors from transcoding. but hey...


So you are saying that there not even lossless? which is the whole point of a flac file? I find that odd, and if true, i find it stupid and will never pay for a flac file again from them.
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 10:17 PM Post #10 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman
they aren't. they are mp3s at 384 k that are transcoded. iirc. That is why you can most likely tell the difference because of the quantisation errors from transcoding. but hey...


That wouldn't be it -- lossless encoding is lossless
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. The FLACs would sound exactly like the MP3's they were created from.
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 10:29 PM Post #11 of 19
read the edit sorry for the slowness. but if you read the terms of service it is in there about the free format mp3s at 384k.
 
Oct 10, 2005 at 10:54 PM Post #12 of 19
I think what they do, from what I got from their faq, is that albums marked with "OEEX" will be the same as a cd if you use a lossless format, while the "OE" ones aren't
 
Oct 13, 2005 at 9:42 AM Post #13 of 19
Hi everyone...I couldn't help but notice this allofmp3.com site you refer too. I must say, after browsing and surfing around this place, I am pretty impressed with what they have to offer. As a result, I have signed up as a member and funded $25 to my account. This is the first music download service I've seen that allows so many codec options and even lossless! But this comment concerns me...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman
they aren't. they are mp3s at 384kbps that are transcoded. iirc. That is why you can most likely tell the difference because of the quantisation errors from transcoding. but hey...

I guess this means that there flac files should be okay, but you never know. If they supposedly transcode their mp3's.



I'm not sure I follow...are you saying that their 384 files aren't really true 384kbps? Also, what are the chances their FLAC files are truly lossless?

By the way I thought 320kbps was the highest an mp3 could be encoded at? 384kbps???

How much space does a FLAC file take up compared to a 384kbps mp3 file and in your opinion is the FLAC/Monkey Audio format worth the space/quality ratio over the mp3?

Last but not least how would you rate allofmp3.com to iTunes?
 
Oct 13, 2005 at 12:48 PM Post #14 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by isamu
I'm not sure I follow...are you saying that their 384 files aren't really true 384kbps? Also, what are the chances their FLAC files are truly lossless?

By the way I thought 320kbps was the highest an mp3 could be encoded at? 384kbps???

How much space does a FLAC file take up compared to a 384kbps mp3 file and in your opinion is the FLAC/Monkey Audio format worth the space/quality ratio over the mp3?

Last but not least how would you rate allofmp3.com to iTunes?



I was trying to say that the reason jackets can hear a difference between 320 and flac maybe do to the fact that their mp3s are transcoded from free format 384k.

Flac/Monkey take about 55% of a cd's total size. 320 kb is about 18% the cd size and 384 will be about 22%. On a portable and pretty much all source you can't discern a difference between 320/384 and lossless. Lossless is good if you like to archive your music or want to transcode to other lossy formats.

128 aac at itunes or a flac for less at allofmp3. Itunes the store is a rip off.
 
Oct 14, 2005 at 2:47 AM Post #15 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman
I was trying to say that the reason jackets can hear a difference between 320 and flac maybe do to the fact that their mp3s are transcoded from free format 384k.

Flac/Monkey take about 55% of a cd's total size. 320 kb is about 18% the cd size and 384 will be about 22%. On a portable and pretty much all source you can't discern a difference between 320/384 and lossless. Lossless is good if you like to archive your music or want to transcode to other lossy formats.

128 aac at itunes or a flac for less at allofmp3. Itunes the store is a rip off.




Interesting.

I am now hearing that allofmp3.com is a pirate site. What's up with that?
 

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