Dane,
Okay. Now I understand there's something I don't understand. <grin>
So, compressed files (of whatever format) are not uncompressed on the fly,
when played back. (It did always strike me that that would probably be a
more resource-intensive process than playing a compressed audio file seemed
to be.)
So, what is it that actually happens when a compressed files is played back;
where is the audio info coming from if not from uncompressing the compressed
files, on the fly; what, exactly, are these things call cue sheets, and how
do they fit into the process?
I fear I need a more elementary explanation, ab ovo.
Thanks.
Dana
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dane Trethowan" <grtd...@internode.on.net>
To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org>
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 1:26 AM
Subject: Re: FLAC Question
I thought I made myself clear when explaining Cue sheets etc, I'll say it
again FLAC files don't hold information by default.
When playing a FLAC file it is not uncompressed by the player rather its
decoded in exactly the same way as a MP3, WMA, OGG or any other file, if
expansion of compressed files were to occur when a player played each one
then yes it would take a while and you'd need one hell of a lot of memory
not to mention some nice complex software <smile>.
On 04/03/2011, at 5:08 PM, Dana S. Leslie wrote:
Dane,
I don't understand the relevance of your initial comments, regarding cue
sheets, to what I asked.
What I'm wondering about is this: When an audio file is compressed with
FLAC, no audio information is lost in the process of compression. Fine.
But, as you say, it will take longer to compress a file, using a higher
level of compression, than if a lower level is used. Similarly, I imagine,
if a higher level of compression is used, it will take longer to
uncompress the FLAC file. Now, when I click on a FLAC file compressed at
the maximum level of compression, and it begins to play in my media
player, will the fact that it takes longer to uncompress the file have any
effect on the sound quality of the playback/listening experience?
Thanks.
Dana
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dane Trethowan"
<grtd...@internode.on.net>
To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 12:59 AM
Subject: Re: FLAC Question
Okay let's make a few things clear here.
a FLAC file does not contain information on a CD rather its usually the
associated Cue file which contains the information, how many tracks the CD
contains, at which point or sector each track starts and ends, the name of
each track, the artist of each, the length etc. Having said that it is
possible to imbed a cue sheet into a FLAC file and extract or use this
information with the FLAC file, thus cue and FLAC file are a pair which
software can act upon, software takes instruction from the cue file.
Regard the various compression levels for FLAC? None will give you any
degradation in audio, they do however affect size and performance of the
compressor. For example, Level 0 is fast whilst the higher levels take
longer to encode and are slightly bigger though not by much, you may find
that the difference is only say 10MB from levels 0 through 8 thus you may
as well use level 0 as the size won't be much different and the encoder
will take a fraction of the time to create your FLAC file.
On 02/03/2011, at 4:31 PM, Dana S. Leslie wrote:
If I rip a CD to FLAC, there is, of course, no loss of audio information.
But what about the level of compression I choose? If I choose Level 8
(the highest available), does that affect the sound quality of playback,
at all, in comparison with a lower level of compression? I wouldn't think
so; but I'm checking to see if there's something about FLAC compression I
don't know/understand.
Thanks.
Blessed Be, Namaste,
Dana
that's Dana, D A N A, NOT Donna, D O N N A
If your synthesizer pronounces them identically, instruct your customized
pronunciation dictionary that Dana=dayna.
D. S. Leslie, née C. R. Guttman
Email: dsles...@alumni.princeton.edu
Skype: dsleslie
Web: ÞE OL' PHILOSOPHIE SHOPPE
Your Source for Discounted Ideas
http://members.cox.net/dsleslie2/
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