Newbie - confused about flac

I have searched a bunch but was not able to really find an aswer to my question. I am a complete newbie when it comes to trading and flac. I have only used mp3 files on my computer.

Flac files are on dvdr's correct? If so, do I need a dvdrw drive on my computer to download them onto my harddrive, or will a regular dvd (play only) drive be enough to copy them to the harddrive? Will I need a dvdrw drive to burn flac's onto a new dvdr?

If I have a flac file on my computer, is there a way to copy that file as an mp3 and burn to a cdr, so that I could enjoy the file at my office, car, etc...

Also - I have read the faq about the various programs that are available to listen and copy flac...what is your reccomendation as to which I should download.

Thanks for your help and patience,

Zach

[U2Lynne]

flac files are just a different type of lossless compression like shns. They can be stored on DVDRs or CDRs, just like shns. So, what you need to do is get Traders Little Helper (check the software section in our FAQ in the menu above) and decompress them to wav. From there, you can burn them to a CDR to listen to wherever you want. Do Not decompress them to mp3 and then burn them because then you are making them lossy and you will loss out on some of the sound.

If you just want to listen to them on your computer, you can get foobar2000.

(I'm making the assumption that you are on a PC, not a Mac.)

[Five]

yeah get foobar2000 make sure its the "special installer" and select the full installation when you install it and you will be able to play pretty much any audio format.

winamp also works but its a little tricky to set up

see the links in my signature

[TheMamba]

Also, with foobar, there is no need to decompress before you burn.

Drag all the FLAC files into foobar, double check that they're in the correct order, hit CTL+A (selects all the files), right click, then select Write Audio CD. Done.

I am trying to get foobar, but the link on this site takes me to the Dell notebook ordering page in a language other than English.

Is there a better link out there? Thanks!

Zach

[Five]

works fine.

just tried it

get the special installer

http://foobar2000.org/

Thanks for the link. I just downloaded the special version. The link from the FAQ is not functional. It takes me to the page previously described.

Zach

[Five]

ahh, thanks we will fix that up

I am happy to help with something ....lol

I understand I can now listen to flac files with foobar, but I can I burn them with foobar also?

[TheMamba]

Originally Posted by Qstick333

I am happy to help with something ....lol

I understand I can now listen to flac files with foobar, but I can I burn them with foobar also?

yes, see my post above.

I feel much like an idiot...but

when I highlight the files and right click them, I don't have anything even close to Write Audio CD. There must be something that I am doing wrong???

THanks for all the ehlp, the site is amazing!

[TheMamba]

Foobar: Did you get the normal installer or the special installer? (Should have gotten special)

Write Audio CD:

I got the special, but I will reinstall in the morning.

I decided to reinstall, I got the write audio cd part now but I got the following error message.

INFO (CORE) : startup time: 3375 ms
INFO (CORE) : opening file for playback :
INFO (CORE) : location: "file://C:\Program Files\DC++\Downloads\bucket2004-12-30.flac\bucket2004-12-30d1t01.flac" (0)
ERROR (foo_burninate) : Nero libraries not found. Please install Nero first.


What should the next step be?

Thanks,

Zach

[DoIFeelLucky]

foobar2000's CD-ripping and CD-writing capabilities only work if you have Nero installed. However, if memory serves, the Nero demo will work. And as I recall, some things keep working in foobar2000 after the demo itself expires (gotta love .DLLs). Not sure if burning is one of those.

Come to think of it, you don't need foobar2000 or Nero to burn FLAC files!

You can use Burrrn
or burnatonce.

Both are free.

Both include an optional ReplayGain scanner for modifying the level of the audio being burned.

Burrrn supports (by default) FLAC, SHN, and APE lossless formats, in addtion to the major lossy formats and a few other lossless formats that aren't even used here (WavPack, OptimFrog, and TrueAudio).
burnatonce supports FLAC natively, and you can add support for APE (no SHN, though).

Burrrn only writes audio CDRs.
burnatonce can burn audio and data CDRs, plus there's a free, though slightly complicated way to burn data DVDs that you can add to it. You can also use it to erase CDRWs.

Burrrn defaults to Disc-at-Once recording - this means no 2-second pause. I'm not even sure if it can do anything else. It's pretty idiot-proof that way; I've never had problems with that.
burnatonce has the option to select 2-second pause or not. I don't remember what the default is. Also, it allows you to manually set pre- and post-gap values on a per-track basis, which I could see being useful to some people.

In the end, Burrrn is probably the easiest choice for people around here.