To view this video download Flash Player Bigger, Better, Faster, More! By 4 Non Blondes (1992-01-01).
FLAC is an open-source file format which offers true-CD quality rips at half the size Xiph.org Foundation In the late 1990s, one of the original portable music file formats - the MP3 - was causing quite a bit of bother mainly due to user's illegal sharing over Napster. While MP3 eventually prevailed, there is an even better choice for high-quality music downloads, and it's playable on your favorite device. It's even in your music streams. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a musical file format that offers bit-perfect copies of CDs but at half the size. It is compatible with many (including the - with an app), portable music players (PMP) including the and hi-fi components. FLAC files are available for roughly the same price as the equivalent MP3 in online stores and sound much better.
Related stories. To see where FLAC has come from and where it is headed, you only need to look at the history of its 'lossy' predecessor.
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Though MP3.com was one of the first sites to sell MP3s in 1999, dedicated players like the Rio PMP300 were subject to legal action by record companies. Yet when the, it helped to legitimize the format, and today MP3s are now sold by most online music stores. (Disclosure: MP3.com no longer sells MP3s and is now owned by CBS Interactive, parent company of CNET.) FLAC, ahh-ahhh, it'll save every one of us.
One of the best FLAC players available is Roon, a high-end music player for PC and Mac. Screenshot by Ty Pendlebury/CNET Until recently, the music format FLAC enjoyed a similar 'pirates-only' reputation to MP3 because of its lack of Digital Rights Management (DRM), but FLAC has the potential to reach a larger audience than just audiophiles and tech enthusiasts. Currently, almost every record label is on board with the format, and consumers can buy lossless music from both major and indie acts for the same price as the Store. FLAC first emerged in 2001 as an open-source alternative to other lossless formats emerging at the time.
These included Lossless (ALAC), WAV (Waveform Audio Format) and WMA Lossless. But these competitive formats do have their disadvantages. While ALAC has a loyal following among iPod and iPhone users, it hasn't seen much uptake outside of Apple products. The WAV format is also popular, and it's compatible with devices, but its biggest problems are that file sizes are very large, and it can't retain 'tag' data - artist, album name, lyrics, and so on - in the way the other formats can. FLAC, on the other hand, not only supports tags but is also compatible with most music players. Apple is the only real holdout here, for while there was talk in 2017 of hardware support in both the iPhone 8 and X nothing has materialized.
However, there are simple workarounds for iOS and Mac users.With apologies to Queen What's the difference between MP3 and FLAC? MP3 is a lossy format, which means parts of the music are shaved off to reduce the file size to a more compact level. It is supposed to use 'psychoacoustics' to delete overlapping sounds, but it isn't always successful. Typically, cymbals, reverb and guitars are the sounds most affected by MP3 compression and can sound really distorted or 'crunchy' when too much compression is applied. Like MP3 before it, FLAC has been embraced by the music industry as a cost-effective way to distribute CD-or-better-quality music, and it doesn't have the auditory problems of MP3s. FLAC is lossless and more like a ZIP file - it comes out sounding the same when it is unzipped. Previously the only way to get 'lossless' files was via the uncompressed CD formats CDA or WAV, but neither is as space-efficient as FLAC.
The Naim mu-so is a high-end wireless speaker that supports FLAC. Sarah Tew/CNET While FLAC files are up to six times larger than an MP3, they are half the size of a CD, and can have the same boost in audio quality. Furthermore, FLAC is not just restricted to 16-bit (CD quality), and you can buy files up to 24-bit/192kHz for another potential boost in performance. While the, companies like Neil Young's Pono staked their reputations on its benefits. But regardless of whether you are using 16- or 24-bit quality files, FLAC is here to stay. Experts such as, professor of psychoacoustics at Essex University, say that despite competition from proprietary formats like MQA and DSD the humble FLAC is still competitive.
'FLAC has a place in the future for high-quality audio. It is good for transporting files on the internet as it typically halves download time. It is unlikely that for lossless compression there will be significant improvements,' Hawksford wrote on. While physical discs are still popular, their usefulness will eventually be eclipsed by the convenience of purely digital files: whether that means streaming or software files stored on your network or in the cloud. As a format FLAC will probably never be as popular a format as CD and DVD were in their heydays, but it's quickly become the format of choice for people who care about sound quality. FLAC versus streaming FLAC downloads have one major competitor: streaming.
While audiophiles are mostly concerned with music bought from music stores like it's not the only option available to people interested in high quality music. At the lower end of the scale, Pandora and Rhapsody have been streaming for years at bit-rates between 128kbps and 192kbps but they're no match for lossless FLAC in the audio department. However there are several major streaming services that offer very high sound quality -, and soon - and depending on the record, they can be indistinguishable from the CD. While Spotify content is ripped in 320Kbps Ogg Vorbis, it's Tidal that offers the biggest alternative to personal collections as it's also based on FLAC.
The company is also able to offer hi-res music by adding Meridian's MQA technology for compatible devices. By contrast, Qobuz offers hi-res FLAC streaming without the use of a proprietary wrapper, but the trade-off is much larger file sizes not suitable for the train. In the meantime, both Spotify and Tidal let you download tracks for offline listening (with a paid subscription), and both catalogs are quite impressive. But it's not just Tidal and Qobuz that offer lossless streaming: there are othe up-and-comers as well. While was one of the first sites to offer true-quality streaming, it's currently only for customers who pay an additional $99 fee (roughly converting to £80 and AU$140), and only for the CDs they currently own. Meanwhile, Deezer Elite is another service that offers lossless streaming but. Stars including Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Deadmau5 and Kanye West called for a fairer deal at the launch of Jay Z's Tidal streaming service.
Kevin Mazur/Getty While the world is swiftly moving toward streaming, FLAC does offers several advantages over the Spotifys and Tidals of this world. Firstly, you only need to pay once for a FLAC album.
With a streaming service, you'd need to pony up for a subscription fee for the rest of your life or lose access to your carefully curated music collection. Secondly, you don't need an internet connection to listen to your music, and while the Offline modes of both Tidal and Spotify enable you to use it on the subway, it still needs to be connected to the 'net at some point to get the files.
What if your music player doesn't have apps or network capability? For inexpensive music players like the, a set of FLAC files make the most sense. Where can I get FLAC files? If you want to support the artist, there are several sites that let you purchase FLAC files. HDTracks.com There are two main ways to get your FLAC files legally: or purchasing from a digital store. Ripping is easy to do but you will need the right software for your computer. However, there are some devices that enable you to rip and store FLAC files on a networked hard drive without having to ever touch a PC; the is one of these.
If you'd rather pay someone else to do that for you, we cover our. If you want to find music and don't know which site the music is on, do a search for the name of the artist/album and 'digital.' How do I play FLAC files? FLAC Player is one of the many apps for iOS that enables FLAC playback. FLAC Player iOS: There is still one hurdle preventing FLAC's full-scale adoption: the Apple iPhone and other iOS devices don't support within iTunes. With every major edition of iOS and iTunes, we secretly hope for FLAC support, but we may never get it.
While Apple announced its (24-bit/44.1kHz) several years ago, the company has moved on to more profitable and immediate concerns such as. However, there are several apps available in the iTunes Store that do support the FLAC format and even let you stream them between devices on your network via and DLNA. Apps available from the App Store include,.
Android: Users of Google's phone OS don't need to worry as much about FLAC support; from Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) onward the OS supports the file format natively. Even if you have an older Android phone, manufacturers like and have added FLAC support to their software media players. Nonetheless, good apps to try from Google Play are, - which also supports high-res - and (which includes DLNA support and also integration).
Windows and Mac: If you're a user, you can play FLAC files natively in the operating system. For older Windows versions, there is a, but the players most recommended by audiophiles are,. Meanwhile Mac users can download Roon, for basic support for FLAC in iTunes. The PonoPlayer was one of the most high-profile FLAC devices but it was. Sarah Tew/CNET Portable: While Android have dwindled in popularity, they have been replaced by high-res portable players like and the now-discontinued designed to support FLAC natively, up to 24-bit/192kHz. Meanwhile, traditional players by, iRiver and FiiO can typically play back FLAC. Getting quality that's measurably better than your phone will cost you though, with models from Astell & Kern costing into the thousands.
However, players such as the promise 45 hours of battery life and start at about $220 (roughly £170 and AU$310). The Google Home Max supports both streaming and downloaded FLAC files via Chromecast. CNET Hi-fi: Of course, the biggest advantage to FLAC files is that they are ideally suited to listening on a hi-fi device. In the last few years, a wealth of streaming audio players have appeared with lossless FLAC playback one of their many benefits. The least expensive of these is the but also support the format. If you own a (NAS) device, PC or even a phone you can serve FLAC files to any number of in your AV system including, boxes, receivers and more. If the device connects to the internet, it's most likely to also support DLNA, and though, it usually comes along for the ride anyway.
Conclusion Though streaming services may come and go, and even the, a FLAC file is like a CD: once you buy it or rip it, it's yours forever (barring storage catastrophes). FLAC may never actually supplant MP3, but if you care about sound quality, then FLAC is undoubtedly your best option - both now and into the foreseeable future. Editors' note, October 28, 2018: This article was originally published in October 2012 and has been updated with new information.
No, before we even start, this is not a blog post about the 4 Non Blondes album. This is a documentation of my mind numbing, soul destroying search for the best performing configuration with the hardware I have in my lab. I have spent countless hours / days / weeks building, breaking & rebuilding my VM Lab (thankfully I have an understanding wife & daughter). Hardware primarily consists of: 2x HP Proliant N36L Microservers (Athlon II Neo Dual Core 1.3) (8GB RAM in one box / 2GB in the other). 2x HP DC7100 Desktops (P4 2.8 / 2GB RAM) 1x Dell Precision 370 (P4 3.0 / 4GB RAM) Cisco 2950 (24×10/100 + 2×1000) Add to this an assortment of older F5’s / dual P3 pizza boxes & other no name kit – and I have a playground full of toys. I have been using for the past few years on various hardware platforms.
This has been mainly for storing media, ISO’s & providing a backup target for the various laptops & workstations around the house. Recently I picked up the two HP N36L Microservers, the 8GB one is my primary VMware ESXi 4.1 host and the 2GB server is running unRAID. Just having the second box sitting there running unRAID seems a little under-utilised to me, the disks are in standby most of the time (thanks to netflix) – and it just hasnt been getting the workout I think it deserves.
So – enter the newest project – whats the best solution for storing media / ISO’s / Backups / VMs etc – I want to be able to use either iSCSI or NFS to play with vMotion of VMs when I finish building my VMware test lab to finish my VCP – I want it fast, but I want it protected in case a disk fails. So as it always seems to happen, the few apps you really want to work. I loaded up the vSphere client under Windows 7 & it failed to connect to my ESXi host, nor would it connect to my Virtual Centre server. It just fell in a heap with the following errors “Error parsing the server “server name” clients.xml” file.” and “The type initializer for ‘VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy’ threw an exception.” After much Google trawling later, I came across the solution. Create lib folder under the Launcher folder C: Program Files VMware Infrastructure Virtual Infrastructure Client Launcher lib. Copy into the lib folder, or if you prefer to grab your own dll from the%SystemRoot% Microsoft.NET Framework v2.0.50727 directory of a Windows XP machine with.NET v3.5 SP1 installed.
Copy file to: C: Program Files VMware Infrastructure Virtual Infrastructure Client Launcher The only change in the config file is the addition of the following lines: before the last close tag. Create a new system variable DEVPATH=C: Program Files VMware Infrastructure Virtual Infrastructure Client Launcher lib. Change the VpxClient.exe app to run as an administrator: If all things went well – you should now just be able to launch the vSphere client & admin your machines as you did before. Comments: Tags:, Categories. So my vCenter was constantly alerting on memory usage, no matter how much memory I assigned to it.
Looking in the process list “tomcat6” was using as much available memory as I fed it. A little searching of the interwebs & I came across the following, which resolved the issues. Update: as per a couple of Jvm memory parameters are pre-set for the vcenter tomcat6 instance.
Removing the fixed-allocation settings in the registry seems to have the desired affect of keeping the tomcat6 memory usage to a more “normal” amount Locate the following registry key, for either x64 or x86 systems HKEYLOCALMACHINE SOFTWARE Wow6432Node Apache Software Foundation Procrun 2.0 vctomcat Parameters Java HKEYLOCALMACHINE SOFTWARE Apache Software Foundation Procrun 2.0 vctomcat Parameters Java And set each value to 0x0 and restart the vCenter Webservices service JvmMs = 0x0 JvmMx = 0x0 JvmSs = 0x0 via. Comments: Tags:, Categories.