Back-up Copy~ WAV vs FLAC Options

[jayess]

Pronoun agreement is your OT lesson for the day. Each is singular. Their is plural. Proper English grammar dictates that you use the masculine "his" as the default when the subject of the gender is unknown. If you wish to be grammatically and politically correct the proper phrase is, "to each his or her own."

Regarding your other question, I will point out that the concept of breaking-in is largely an placebophile myth, though I suppose it extends beyond placebophiles whether they may be men or women. How you choose to spend the miniscule amount of processing power is your business.

Thank you for dodging the part where you provide a compelling reason why someone should use wave over flac.

Good morning, Greynol.

I thought I would share a delightful water-cooler discussion I just had. There's this office fellow that thinks his music is superior to mine and keeps trying to push it off on me. The stuff I listen to is mainstream, sold in stores, and is pretty much a defacto-standard with many people. His music on the the hand is more or less just a cult following type thing. So today, he tries to sell me on hearing a particular track and I oblige him and tell him "sure, just email it to me tonight in flac."

He was completely stumped apparently by what flac is. And boy was I glad!

[greynol]

Will he be mailing it off to you in wave format instead?

Last time I wanted to share something with someone it was available on this forum but in TAK. He graciously allowed me to tell him what TAK was and download the decoder to his compter. I don't know what I would have done if his computer wasn't running Windows.

This post has been edited by greynol: Aug 30 2012, 14:39

[Nessuno]

Will he be mailing it off to you in wave format instead?

And, was not the topic about backup copies?

@jayess: where's the point in maling a lossless track "just to have a listen" anyway? Use mp3 and you're done with everyone and his dog!

(Edit: er... actually his dog could easily ABX what everyone cannot, but if it's "just to have a listen"...)

This post has been edited by Nessuno: Aug 30 2012, 18:12

[LimitBreaker15]

Another question just for clarification.

Let's say I have 2 same maxi singles. One which is newly bought, and one is a bit worn-out. I ripped both to FLAC files. Will both still be exactly the same?

[HansBKK]

Another question just for clarification.

Let's say I have 2 same maxi singles. One which is newly bought, and one is a bit worn-out. I ripped both to FLAC files. Will both still be exactly the same?

I smell a troll, or at least I think this horse is officially flogged to death.

Just in case you really are sincerely so clueless - digital is digital, not like vinyl where the signal degradation is continuous.

If digital media is damaged to the point where you can no longer extract the data, even with specialized tools, then you don't have the file intact.

None of which has anything to do with the file format - lossless is lossless.

[db1989]

If digital media is damaged to the point where you can no longer extract the data, even with specialized tools, then you don't have the file intact.

This is worded imprecisely. If you use an insecure ripper that just takes whatever it thinks it sees on the CD without checking its accuracy in any way, it might extract inaccurate audio without realising anything is wrong, especially from a worn/damaged disc. So, it is perfectly possible to end up with a file that appears “intact”, if by that you mean seems to have the right length, etc.

None of which has anything to do with the file format

This, on the other hand, is perfectly correct. OP, the site has many resources related to CD audio, its vulnerabilities, and the consequent benefits of secure ripping; it will be better for you to research that than to post about it in this unrelated thread.

This post has been edited by db1989: Aug 31 2012, 12:00

[DonP]

So that my post will not only be meta-discussion: The most compelling argument in favor of WAV has not really been stated, the ubiquitous support in every audio player on every platform.

Lots of players out there will only play files through a tag based database.

[krabapple]

A more relevant question is does flac improve the sound of music over wav?

Not relevant -- a non-sequitur, really.

If you need compression and more tagging capabilities, have at it.

I definitely need tagging, thanks. I hazard to say most people who play audio files feel the same.

[db1989]

Since you were last to post, I think that adds even more relevance to my quoting this statement of yours from elsewhere:

This just goes to make a point I've made in talks every since about 1990: "SNR is Mostly Harmless"

But when it gets too low in online threads, I tend to bail.

What does the scanner say about this thread’s SNR level?

OP:

Feel free to close this after someone answers the last question~

Not that I want to silence you personally or anything, but are we there yet? I don’t know if the barrage of unrelated material into this thread makes it worthwhile to leave open and/or attempt a clean-up, assuming of course that you feel your questions have been answered satisfactorily. You might find it more useful to progress to reading about digital audio extraction and other topics, and perhaps create another thread later if you still have questions after some background research.

[4sure]

If not for other reasons, my pick is FLAC:

1. Compatible tagging
2. Compression
3. Low CPU usage (only if you prefer compression, especially on portable devices)
4. Error resistant
5. Seekable

These may be good points for adopting FLAC!

[Venyos]

I wanted to have a permanent back-up copy of my audio files

Tell me this.... Say you own 1000 CDs. You have a "backup" of those CDs in some lossless format like WAV or FLAC on a hard drive that you've stored off site. Your house burns down and all of the CDs are destroyed. Are you really going spend the time and effort to take those backup files and burn 1000 CDs? Or are you just going to switch from playing CDs to playing the files instead?

What I'm saying is ... forget about the notion of "backing up" or archiving your CD collection. Instead, concentrate on ripping your library to a lossless format, tagging it thoroughly and correctly. Find a playback system for those files that you like. Make sure you maintain backups of the files and keep a copy in a safe place. And enjoy the music.

Excellent argument. Absolutely. this is what I did five years ago. And I'm totally satisfied. Use FLAC and buy a decent USB reader that reads FLAC.