Changed my FLAC config to -8 -S as I've added seektables to my FLAC files. The -8 doesn't take me that much longer and so the files are no larger. However, I'm only adding seektables in the hope that in the future I may find them in some way useful. My question is should I bother, and are the standard 10 second steps enough? I also wonder why adding seektables isn't being recommended?

I'm no expert but doesn't the seektable allow one to jump to an arbitrary time within the file when playing it back? If you always play your files from beginning to end without jumping around then you don't need the seektable. Even if you don't have a seektable it just means that jumping to a time within the file is a little less precise.

Where or who says that adding seektables isn't recommended?

if you just use -8 instead of -8 -S you will still get seektables, you need to add the switch --no-seektable which is a negative option according to flac.exe --help.

This thread was split from Eli's unofficial guide on EAC and flac. I will include that in the title.

Please accept my apologies.

EDIT: Here's a link to the flac website:
http://flac.sourceforge.net/documentation_...ncoding_options

One entry for every 10 seconds of audio sounds like a very small price to pay.

Darn, missed that. I guess my question, and the -S flag, are unnecessary after all, so sorry.

with FLAC, seektables are not required for random access but they can speed up the access time. on a PC and most devices you probably won't notice the difference.