FLAC Downloads

[shingalated]

Is there ANY website where I can buy FLACs?
I know amazon sells DRM-free MP3s but if i'm gonna buy music I want it as high quality as possible.

[Sockerdrickan]

CDs && rip

[Pethegreat]

FLAC downloads would be nice, but the size of the files presents a problem. A CD in mp3 or ogg is at the most 50mb. I am looking through my collection of FLAC music, and one 3 minute song is about 20mb, and a CD is about 300-500mb. Most people don't have the bandwidth to download FLAC files quickly. Once people get faster connections there could be .flac files along side Mp3's

[-grubby]

FLAC downloads would be nice, but the size of the files presents a problem. A CD in mp3 or ogg is at the most 50mb. I am looking through my collection of FLAC music, and one 3 minute song is about 20mb, and a CD is about 300-500mb.

the last time I checked, a CD had 700MB of space

[Onyros]

Saul Williams released his latest album in FLAC. You can find more about it --> here. (http://niggytardust.com/).

It's a great album for 5 bucks, in great quality. Not the usual iTunes rip-offs.

Saul and Trent Reznor (who produced the album) followed on Radiohead's footsteps, but went a little further by releasing the album in the best possible quality.

If you don't want to pay, you can have the files for free @ 192 kbps mp3. For 5 dollars you get a FLAC download, a 320 kbps mp3 (CBR) download and the 192 kbps as well.

[Pethegreat]

the last time I checked, a CD had 700MB of space

I should have put a CD Ripped into Mp3 takes up 50 mb. Mp3 CD's hold hundreds of songs in just 700mb of space.

I don't see the point of downloading music. I gladly pay for CD's. I know that I have an original copy for backup, and I can get a few bucks if I go to sell the CD.

[jken146]

I expect you'll find a lot of music in FLAC via torrent, but most of this will be copyrighted. It seems that the only music that is free to download and distribute is in ogg or mp3.

[mr32123]

I don't know of anyone that sells FLAC files. I would just buy the CDs and rip them yourself. The size is huge which is why most people don't bother with them. I myself don't bother with it. I just get the highest quality mp3 rip I can find. Rumor is that the human ear can't tell the difference between anything higher than 320, and very little difference above 190. I guess if you trained yourself to look for certain elements like some audiophiles and engineers do, but then where's the joy in that? But of course that's only my opinion.

[tomauty]

Torrents are really the only way to go. Companies won't sell FLAC because that is a ton more bandwidth.

[Lostincyberspace]

Torrents are really the only way to go. Companies won't sell FLAC because that is a ton more bandwidth.
Even those are hard to find.

[shingalated]

I expect you'll find a lot of music in FLAC via torrent, but most of this will be copyrighted. It seems that the only music that is free to download and distribute is in ogg or mp3.

But still, there is no promise that the file didn't start out as a low quality MP3 that they downloaded and then get converted to FLAC.

[shingalated]

How about OGGs? Where can I buy those.

[bobbocanfly]

Even those are hard to find.

Try getting an invite to what [dot] cd or waffles [dot] fm and you will be surprised how popular Flac is.

[bruce89]

How about OGGs? Where can I buy those.

<rant>Nowhere. OGG is a container format.</rant>

The FLAC website (http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html#music) has links to users (Metallica even).

[tdrusk]

Can you actually tell the difference between a 320 kbps mp3 and a flac file?


I sure as hell can't.

[bruce89]

Can you actually tell the difference between a 320 kbps mp3 and a flac file?

Rencode both with a lower bitrate (~80kbps), the FLAC one will be better.

[bobbob94]

zunior.com seem to sell some of their stuff as flac downloads. i went there to buy an album by the very fine canadian accordian player geoff berner and was pleasantly suprised to get a choice of drm free mp3 or flac for the download. i don't know how much of their catalogue gets the flac option tho, and of course the range of artists isn't massive...

[shingalated]

Zunior looks pretty nifty, they have a lot of good artists.