About
FLAC is a lossless audio format. You can learn anything at all about the format here: Wikipedia's FLAC article
Basically lossless audio means there is no loss of quality like in other audio formats (such as mp3) but this also results in a much bigger file.
Playing
Windows
Winamp -backup link-
foobar2000 -backup link-
Mac
Cog
itunes guide
Burning
The official FLAC install package includes a plugin when you want to burn a audio CD with Nero. There is also a free audio CD burning program called Burrrn.
Ripping
This section is only for those interested in securely ripping a CD.
Exact Audio Copy
Exact Audio Copy seems to be one of the most secure methods of CD ripping, so it is what is used here.
EAC Options
Extraction tab- disable "fill up missing offset samples", enable "no use of null samples" and enable "synchronize between tracks"
Normalize tab - disable normalize
Drive Options
Enable Secure mode and you may have to detect drive features, but if you don't want to just uncheck the extra options and rip the CD. At the end of ripping, check to see if all tracks ripped to 99% or higher.
C2 mode will make ripping faster if your drive supports it, but the results will always be the same or less accurate.
Go back to the main screen, select all of the album tracks, right click and hit "Copy Selected Tracks" - Uncompressed. When it is done ripping all of the tracks, drag and drop the wav files into the FLAC frontend.
After ripping, make sure there were no errors and save the log file if you want.
Encoding
FLAC - Look for "FLAC for Windows with installer"
Use these settings in the FLAC frontend:
Level 8
Verify
Do not add tags (this might be ok if you know how to set it up correctly)
No replaygain
FLAC is a lossless audio format. You can learn anything at all about the format here: Wikipedia's FLAC article
Basically lossless audio means there is no loss of quality like in other audio formats (such as mp3) but this also results in a much bigger file.
Playing
Windows
Winamp -backup link-
foobar2000 -backup link-
Mac
Cog
itunes guide
Burning
The official FLAC install package includes a plugin when you want to burn a audio CD with Nero. There is also a free audio CD burning program called Burrrn.
Ripping
This section is only for those interested in securely ripping a CD.
Exact Audio Copy
Exact Audio Copy seems to be one of the most secure methods of CD ripping, so it is what is used here.
EAC Options
Extraction tab- disable "fill up missing offset samples", enable "no use of null samples" and enable "synchronize between tracks"
Normalize tab - disable normalize
Drive Options
Enable Secure mode and you may have to detect drive features, but if you don't want to just uncheck the extra options and rip the CD. At the end of ripping, check to see if all tracks ripped to 99% or higher.
C2 mode will make ripping faster if your drive supports it, but the results will always be the same or less accurate.
Go back to the main screen, select all of the album tracks, right click and hit "Copy Selected Tracks" - Uncompressed. When it is done ripping all of the tracks, drag and drop the wav files into the FLAC frontend.
After ripping, make sure there were no errors and save the log file if you want.
Encoding
FLAC - Look for "FLAC for Windows with installer"
Use these settings in the FLAC frontend:
Level 8
Verify
Do not add tags (this might be ok if you know how to set it up correctly)
No replaygain
