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Quality Audio in FLAC File Downloads

FLACThe most common digital audio format is MP3 and it is widely used in the digital audio industry today. Basically the MP3 format is a patented digital audio encoding that has been standardized to be compatible in most audio and media players for sale today, whether portable or not. MP3 files are compressed audio files, also referred to as lossy comprehension. One of its defining characteristics is that it doesn’t take up too much space (the average size for an MP3 file is 3 mb) but the quality of the sound is still a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio. So if the MP3 files seem to be a standard music format for listening to music, then what’s the deal with FLAC files that are now considered to be the fastest-growing audio codec today?

One of the greatest weapons that FLAC files can showcase to all music enthusiasts and audiophiles is that when it comes to audio quality, this audio format ranks the top one. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec – with an emphasis on the word “lossless” (as opposed to the “lossy” quality of MP3), meaning, “without loss in quality.” If the MP3 format is a patented digital audio, FLAC is considered to be non-proprietary and in most cases, independent and clear from patents. With those qualities associated with FLAC files, you cannot blame most audiophiles and music enthusiasts to switch from MP3 to FLAC.

But FLAC remains to be in the background compared to MP3, albeit the fact that it can offer high quality audio sound. Why? There are also downsides when it comes to FLAC. For one thing, FLAC files cannot be played in iTunes so if you are a die-hard Apple fan, then you will find this extremely discouraging. FLAC files play in Windows Media Player and Winamp though.

Another reason why many people shrugged off FLAC files is that they take up too much space, with a FLAC audio file taking up to 43 MB compared to MP3’s average 3 MB size. Some people prefer to skimp on storage space and sacrifice music quality. One must consider, however, that compared to downloading movies from sites like Netflix, the amount of bandwidth and storage space required for music is trivial.  Even the highest quality audio contains less data than a decent video stream.  This makes opting for MP3’s a false economy in todays bandwidth rich world.

Still, if you find quality audio important to you then you’ll discover that you’re not really interested in compressed music files. After all, you can always buy extra hard drives – they are cheap these days. So make the switch to FLAC file formats, grab a cold beer from the fridge, and settle in for some quality music appreciation today!

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The best (and free) music stations that you can find online

Everyone likes music, right? With the advent of the internet, music sharing has become embedded in our social networking by way of internet music stations and maybe even file sharing. That said, here are some of the best online music stations that the web has to provide:

last.fm – With last.fm you can import your history of music listening from all your media players (this is called scrobbling). From last.fm you can get recommendations on other music, as well as get connected with others sharing your taste in music, as well as get info on upcoming gigs related to your favorite artists.

Pandora.com – Pandora prompts you to enter in a song or an artist when you visit. From there, it creates an automated radio station based on your initial song or artist. Pandora is one of those “smart” radios – you are given the option to add more of your favorite songs and artists into your radio. The radio itself will automatically include those songs, as well as similar songs related to what you have put in. If you don’t like something, click thumbs down when you play it, and it won’t show up again. You can pause whatever track you are on; yet you cannot fast forward, only skip tracks, and you can only skip several tracks an hour.

Playlist.com – Alright, so this isn’t really an online music station. Rather, it’s an online playlist. The process is simple: you search for your favorite artist or song on Playlist.com, add songs to your playlist, and save that playlist for later playback.

These websites are just the tip of the iceberg. Obviously more of these free, alternative-to-downloading music websites are out there. Poke around a bit on the internet! Hear about some good music sites from your friend! Websites to listen to music is at your fingertips.