Comments on: FLAC Downloading Trends

By: Edu Camargo

Edu Camargo — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:17:21 +0000

So glad to see flac gaining more support. Technology is switching gradually and, thanks God, we see a lot of people paying atention to this transition. Even traders of so called “comercial music” are realizing flac’s advantages.

Of course we’re not dismissing MP3, because MP3 was designed for a diferent purpose other than flac, and a 320kbps MP3 or even OGG Vorbis Q5 or 6 are pretty well suited for portable use. Now, FLAC’s flexibility of storing metadata and its approach to linear prediction for encoding audio without stressing bandwidth by keeping less complex information at lower bitrate levels, are amazing. Another thing that helps FLAC even more in the future is the current adoption of the format by the European Broadcasting Union.

One thing I would love to see right now, (no advertising intended), is the rise of SongBird as player of choice, for its open architecture, the great idea of combining a media player and a web browser on a single interface, and its commitment of being cross-platform compatible. The software is very good for being in the active development stage, so, we can’ wait when the player consolidates by itself as favorit by many. Needless to say that it supports FLAC ot of the box!

By: Marlin Janus

Marlin Janus — Tue, 12 May 2009 06:52:29 +0000

I’m one of those people who prefer to download the FLAC version of a release, if I like it. Therefor prior to FLAC, I download the MP3 version to check out the release because if it’s not the style I like, why produce additional traffic by downloading the FLAC version?

Btw, WAV is not an option for me. As all my DJing tools I use support FLAC, and FLAC is lossless, why bother downloading a larger package. If I really need the WAV files to burn them on CD-R I can still produce them out of the FLAC files. No biggie.

By: Zoopy

Zoopy — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:23:02 +0000

I love flac forever :))

By: Alien

Alien — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:59:41 +0000

Thanks for sharing all these releases! And especially FLAC is best option for me.

@ Etienne Starblaze:
Yes FLAC/WAV sounds way better even on my home system, and makes big difference on club/outdoor sound

By: travis

travis — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:50:23 +0000

i am glad to see FLAC becoming more popular. when FLAC options are available, i usually download a release in losless format for listening to at home or at work (wherever i happen to be at the time), and if i like it, i download again in MP3 to put on my ipod. i wish more portable music devices supported flac…

By: Spirit

Spirit — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:34:28 +0000

Hooray for FLAC! I am very glad you do this.

By: Etienne Starblaze

Etienne Starblaze — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:47:14 +0000

Other than for purposes of obtaining a perfect “lossless” encoding, do people actually found the sound quality better on FLAC than on a 320 CBR mp3??

By: Дениска

Дениска — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:00:23 +0000

it’s all right) thanks

By: Basilisk

Basilisk — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:24:45 +0000

MP3, FLAC, and WAV will continue to be supported. This post reports usage patterns since FLAC was introduced. Sorry if there was any confusion!

By: Дениска

Дениска — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:52:07 +0000

now only flac fomat for download?