Lets face it, we live in a time where physical media is on it's way out, and digital files are on their way in. And we can do some cool stuff with that.
Unfortunately, the industry is not moving in this direction properly, in a way that uses the available technology we have to it's fullest potential.
I think it's obvious to anyone that is here that, if digital files are going to take over, flac files is the obvious choice. It uses lossless compression, can be CD quality, or better, and can do 5.1 surround sound.
With the technology available to us today, if I was preparing a 5.1 album to release for others to listen to, it should be as easy as me encoding the final product to .flac files, and allowing others to download those to listen to at home on their.....well.....what? And there is the problem.
Now sure, the more tech savy of us would know what to do. The most simple solution, download the right software for your computer, get a surround sound card, hook up some speakers. Or hook up the surround sound card to the home theater system.
Or, one may author their own disc if that works, but that's a lot of work to expect from an end user.
Or, play it back on a device.
But, what device?
Well, there's a problem as well. The industry has all but ignored flac as a standard. Oh sure, many devices play them, some places sell them. But, it's more of an exception, and afterthought. Also, as far as I know, using flac for 5.1 is not something being done officially by anyone, and if it is, that would be very rare.
Anyways, if we don't even think about 5.1, it's still a struggle. I ripped all my CDs to flac, and I've not really been able to fully take advantage of that. Sure, the Oppo player plays flac, but not gapless. And there is a huge problem.
No one is taking gapless seriously. And I can't understand how or why this can be. Would anyone here settle for sitting down to listen to Dark Side of the Moon with gaps added between every song? Fuck no!, the first gap each and every one of you would stop that thing, and find another playback method, which would probably mean going for the disc.
Yes, there are devices that do gapless flac, but it's not the standard. As it is, I spent a lot of money on my Oppo player, and all they can tell me is, it's the manufacturer of the chip's fault, and they only really care about disc playback.
Well you know what? That doesn't cut it anymore. We live in an age where digital file playback is the future, and it's hear now. If you can't get with the times, and manufacture equipment that fully utilizes today's digital technology to it's fullest potential, then get out of the way and let someone else do it! Anything less than gapless flac is unacceptable, and it's time we demand this from the manufacturers!
The only reason the industry adopted mp3 like it did was due to consumer demand. It was us the consumers that started making mp3s as something cool we could do on our computers to share music easily, and when it took of like it did, after years of trying to fight mp3, the industry was left with no choice but to embrace it, and sell it.
It's time for us to demand flac. Mp3 is an unacceptable compromise, that with today's technology there is no reason to settle for anymore. Sure, mp3 takes less space than a flac file. But, you know what? If you cut records to 16 RPM, you could fit twice as much on one disc. Did the industry do that? Hell no, people wouldn't accept 16 RPM as the standard. Flac is here, flac is what the technology is capable of, it's time to embrace it, or get out of the way and let someone else do it.
As far as gapless playback, I've struggled to find a way to listen to my flac files. I played around with different softwares to interface with things, but the bottom line is the Oppo won't do it. I've played around with a roku box, which is a fairly common and cost efficient device that does some cool things, but it won't do gapless flac. At least I haven't found a way yet. One thing that looks promising is the boxee box. However, I found out with a little searching, that it won't properly do 5.1 surround flac, it reverses the rear left and subwoofer channels. A ticket is currently opened and assigned to a tech, with a status of minor. It's been open for about a year now.
A year? You can't program your damn box to playback the correct channel assignment of a flac file in a year?
Flac is here, and if digital files is the future of music distribution and listening, then we need to support what it's capable of. We need flacs being sold, standard. We need gapless flac playback a standard in all devices. This needs to happen.
Without these standards, releasing something as flac instead of a disc isn't a realistic option. We need to start with the players. Yes, we want to see the labels release surround downloads. How can we expect that, when we can't reasonably expect someone will be able to play it?
So, be loud, spread the word. I encourage everyone here to make waves, make some noise. Have a piece of equipment that you'd like to play flac and it doesn't? Send an email or tweet to the manufacturer. Have a device that plays back flac, but not gapless? Let them know, this isn't acceptable anymore, we won't stand for it, and if they want to keep you as a customer, they need to add gapless flac playback to their device.
I've started a new twitter trend, or I've attempted to anyways, of #gaplessflac, and have sent some tweets to some manufacturers. But I can't do this alone, we're all in this together.
It's time to demand a new standard from the industry, so that for once and for all we can have a simple way of purchasing, listening to, and distributing music.
Unfortunately, the industry is not moving in this direction properly, in a way that uses the available technology we have to it's fullest potential.
I think it's obvious to anyone that is here that, if digital files are going to take over, flac files is the obvious choice. It uses lossless compression, can be CD quality, or better, and can do 5.1 surround sound.
With the technology available to us today, if I was preparing a 5.1 album to release for others to listen to, it should be as easy as me encoding the final product to .flac files, and allowing others to download those to listen to at home on their.....well.....what? And there is the problem.
Now sure, the more tech savy of us would know what to do. The most simple solution, download the right software for your computer, get a surround sound card, hook up some speakers. Or hook up the surround sound card to the home theater system.
Or, one may author their own disc if that works, but that's a lot of work to expect from an end user.
Or, play it back on a device.
But, what device?
Well, there's a problem as well. The industry has all but ignored flac as a standard. Oh sure, many devices play them, some places sell them. But, it's more of an exception, and afterthought. Also, as far as I know, using flac for 5.1 is not something being done officially by anyone, and if it is, that would be very rare.
Anyways, if we don't even think about 5.1, it's still a struggle. I ripped all my CDs to flac, and I've not really been able to fully take advantage of that. Sure, the Oppo player plays flac, but not gapless. And there is a huge problem.
No one is taking gapless seriously. And I can't understand how or why this can be. Would anyone here settle for sitting down to listen to Dark Side of the Moon with gaps added between every song? Fuck no!, the first gap each and every one of you would stop that thing, and find another playback method, which would probably mean going for the disc.
Yes, there are devices that do gapless flac, but it's not the standard. As it is, I spent a lot of money on my Oppo player, and all they can tell me is, it's the manufacturer of the chip's fault, and they only really care about disc playback.
Well you know what? That doesn't cut it anymore. We live in an age where digital file playback is the future, and it's hear now. If you can't get with the times, and manufacture equipment that fully utilizes today's digital technology to it's fullest potential, then get out of the way and let someone else do it! Anything less than gapless flac is unacceptable, and it's time we demand this from the manufacturers!
The only reason the industry adopted mp3 like it did was due to consumer demand. It was us the consumers that started making mp3s as something cool we could do on our computers to share music easily, and when it took of like it did, after years of trying to fight mp3, the industry was left with no choice but to embrace it, and sell it.
It's time for us to demand flac. Mp3 is an unacceptable compromise, that with today's technology there is no reason to settle for anymore. Sure, mp3 takes less space than a flac file. But, you know what? If you cut records to 16 RPM, you could fit twice as much on one disc. Did the industry do that? Hell no, people wouldn't accept 16 RPM as the standard. Flac is here, flac is what the technology is capable of, it's time to embrace it, or get out of the way and let someone else do it.
As far as gapless playback, I've struggled to find a way to listen to my flac files. I played around with different softwares to interface with things, but the bottom line is the Oppo won't do it. I've played around with a roku box, which is a fairly common and cost efficient device that does some cool things, but it won't do gapless flac. At least I haven't found a way yet. One thing that looks promising is the boxee box. However, I found out with a little searching, that it won't properly do 5.1 surround flac, it reverses the rear left and subwoofer channels. A ticket is currently opened and assigned to a tech, with a status of minor. It's been open for about a year now.
A year? You can't program your damn box to playback the correct channel assignment of a flac file in a year?
Flac is here, and if digital files is the future of music distribution and listening, then we need to support what it's capable of. We need flacs being sold, standard. We need gapless flac playback a standard in all devices. This needs to happen.
Without these standards, releasing something as flac instead of a disc isn't a realistic option. We need to start with the players. Yes, we want to see the labels release surround downloads. How can we expect that, when we can't reasonably expect someone will be able to play it?
So, be loud, spread the word. I encourage everyone here to make waves, make some noise. Have a piece of equipment that you'd like to play flac and it doesn't? Send an email or tweet to the manufacturer. Have a device that plays back flac, but not gapless? Let them know, this isn't acceptable anymore, we won't stand for it, and if they want to keep you as a customer, they need to add gapless flac playback to their device.
I've started a new twitter trend, or I've attempted to anyways, of #gaplessflac, and have sent some tweets to some manufacturers. But I can't do this alone, we're all in this together.
It's time to demand a new standard from the industry, so that for once and for all we can have a simple way of purchasing, listening to, and distributing music.