What The Flac.....?

I've been buying downloads for quite some time. I even remember when the best bit rate you could get was 128kbps. Those were the days, right?. But, with the rise of the online digital music stores has come the quest for better fidelity of Mp3s.

Most music downloads are encoded at at least 320kbps which yields a much better sound quality. I know that to many, Mp3s appear to sound just as good as CD or WAV files, but the compression process used to convert WAV files into Mp3s, does so by extracting or removing a portion of the audio in order to shrink the file's size. The result is, that some of the sound is then missing. While it is true the the missing sound is mostly in the higher frequencies, the discerning ear can still tell. This is what is known as a lossy conversion. What has been coming onto the digital music download scene in the past several years is the lossless conversion process. File formats include, Monkey's Audio or Ape, Wavepack, ATRAC, TTA, Apple Lossless, Windows Media Lossless and the one I think is the odds on favorite, FLAC.

FLAC stands for free lossless audio codec. I think that I like it because it works just like a Zip file, except that it is designed for audio. With FLAC, a WAV file can be reduced by 50 to 60% of it's original size, and when it's decoded, it yields the the exact amount of data that went into it. The bonus with FLAC is, that the file can also be played back just as it is. And, the sound is the same as the sound of the file it was made from.

I've talked about FLAC before, but technology is always moving forward, and since FLAC is an open source technology, more and more emusic stores and music software developers are sure to be adopting it, especially as word begins to spread about FLAC's attributes and demand for better sound quality continues to increase.

While losseless file technology may not be very sexy or exciting, it will mean some great changes that are good for music consumers. At some point, you'll be able to get the exact music files that the artist always intended to sell. You'll also be able to play your download immediately, or have the ability to convert it to the original while keeping the compressed file for your archives. Think of it, all of the great music that's been hard to find, not only discovered online, but downloaded and played back in your car or living room with the quality that was always intended.