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Boot question...flac vs. cd

57Goldtop57Goldtop Posts: 218
edited July 2008 in Given To Fly (live)
If I buy the flac downloads and put it on cd, will it sound any different if I was just to buy the physical cd?
Post edited by Unknown User on

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    upina2001upina2001 Indiana Posts: 764
    it shouldnt; as long as you dont convert it to MP3, you should be fine.

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    bcbcbcbcbcbc Posts: 11
    What exactly is FLAC? What do most people download?
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    rtwilli4rtwilli4 Posts: 261
    I've been wondering the same thing. I usually listen to my music in my car on MP3 CD's. I have some pretty good speakers and an 800 watt amp. I also listen on my iPod and computer a lot.

    I have always listened to MP3's... what is FLAC and will I notice a difference on a high end sound system?
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    mozettimozetti Posts: 95
    mp3 & flac - Both are formats to compress audio into smaller filesizes since .wavs are pretty big. 1 Key difference: mp3 is lossy and FLAC is lossless.

    Lossy mp3 - to do mp3 compression, it strips out some of the audio data to make the file smaller. Normally, making a 192 or 256 vbr mp3 doesn't sound much difference from a CD. Anything lower than that will degrade sound quality and anything above it is pretty much overkill. But, if you decode an mp3 back into a wav (say to burn a regular audio cd) the wav file isn't the same as the original. Think of it like 2nd, 3rd, ... generation analog tapes. Every time you make a wav into an mp3, you lose more and more info. So, mp3->wav->mp3-wav->mp3 means each generation loses quality.

    Lossless FLAC - FLAC compresses audio but doesn't strip out any of the audio data. So, when you decode a FLAC file to a wav file, the new wav is an exact copy of the original. You can FLAC->wav->FLAC->wav->flac->wav til the cows come home and you won't lose any sound quality.
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    rtwilli4rtwilli4 Posts: 261
    So If I am understanding this correctly, the MP3's I am downloading from PJ.com should be fine, and as long as I am listening to the original file (like am MP3 CD or on my iPod) the it will sound great.

    Another question? If iTunes is converting these files when I load them onto my iPod, is this changing the quality at all? Thanks for the help.
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    cd21millercd21miller Columbia, MO Posts: 302
    mozetti wrote:
    mp3 & flac - Both are formats to compress audio into smaller filesizes since .wavs are pretty big. 1 Key difference: mp3 is lossy and FLAC is lossless.

    Lossy mp3 - to do mp3 compression, it strips out some of the audio data to make the file smaller. Normally, making a 192 or 256 vbr mp3 doesn't sound much difference from a CD. Anything lower than that will degrade sound quality and anything above it is pretty much overkill. But, if you decode an mp3 back into a wav (say to burn a regular audio cd) the wav file isn't the same as the original. Think of it like 2nd, 3rd, ... generation analog tapes. Every time you make a wav into an mp3, you lose more and more info. So, mp3->wav->mp3-wav->mp3 means each generation loses quality.

    Lossless FLAC - FLAC compresses audio but doesn't strip out any of the audio data. So, when you decode a FLAC file to a wav file, the new wav is an exact copy of the original. You can FLAC->wav->FLAC->wav->flac->wav til the cows come home and you won't lose any sound quality.

    thank god for people like you who understand and can explain that stuff.

    the technology challenged of the world bow to you in humble appreciation.
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    corduroy2121corduroy2121 Posts: 68
    rtwilli4 wrote:
    So If I am understanding this correctly, the MP3's I am downloading from PJ.com should be fine, and as long as I am listening to the original file (like am MP3 CD or on my iPod) the it will sound great.

    Another question? If iTunes is converting these files when I load them onto my iPod, is this changing the quality at all? Thanks for the help.

    well, you can listen to mp3s no problem. But they are not as high quality as Flac or CD
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