No MP3s?
That’s right, I’ve decided to release my latest EP in lossless only. You’re going to want to download the FLAC package if you’re on Windows/Unix and playing music through winamp, windows media player or such. Mac users will probably want to download the ALAC package - for usage with iTunes/iPod.
So why the lack of MP3s? Well, I could write alot about this, but basically the only argument for MP3s anymore - now that we have faster internet connections and bigger hard drives - is the compatability. Now, imagine if everyone would suddenly start using FLAC instead of MP3 - in no time, the compatability issue that FLAC has (compared to MP3) would be resolved.
Now obviously there’ll never be a sudden global change of format, so somebody has to start. So what I’m hoping to do is to at at least have the hardcore Phlogiston-fanbase (har har) using FLAC, and maybe with time more and more people will download our FLAC catalog as opposed to our MP3 catalog.
Don’t worry, though; this does not mean Pause is stopping with MP3 releases. I do realise I’ll probably lose out on some potential listeners, and it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, but I won’t force this upon any of the others who release through Pause. I do, however, hope that other who feel the same way as I consider going all lossless somewhere down the road.
We’d love to hear your opinions on this. So please do use the comment field to post your comments, thoughts, ideas, whatever. And if you for some reason insist that I should put this out in mp3, then try to persuade me.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 am
if you want to offer 80kbps mono mp3s that still sound good for low bandwidth users, i can do the conversions and processing for them so that there’s a definate alternative. not all people have both large hard drives with lots of space as well as a faster internet connection, not to mention flac doesnt work on all portable players. i think that both high res and low res mp3 zips should be allowed for that reason alone.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:52 am
It’ll only take a few moments to convert them to the sound format I want. Only a minor inconvenience. I’ll still get to listen to more Phlogiston, so I’m happy.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Interesting decision, although it makes me feel like I’m holding back progress with my laptop from the previous decade and its intermittent connectivity, not to mention my budget personal MP3 player that can’t play back .FLAC. Still, I’ll struggle along with this particular download since it says Phlogiston on it. =)
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Though we may have more bandwidth, typically we still have to pay to use more of it. If everyone were sharing only FLAC I would burn through my 100gb p/month in a weekend. I don’t think the internet is ready for lossless just yet. But, good release regardless \m/
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Personally I think I’d rather offer multiple formats so as to not alienate listeners who merely want to enjoy the music, and frankly won’t even be able to tell the difference between 256 Kbps VBR MP3s and Lossless in the first place (for the most part).
That being said, we’re all for artists choosing to release their music in the format(s) that they want, and on that note, I’m glad Phlog is trying something different.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
It’s a bit inconvenient for people with MP3 players, but like Awww said it’ll only take a sec to convert it. The problem is people like Apple and Microsoft making you use iTunes or the Zune Player to sync your device, and making those programs unable to convert or play this filetype. But yeah, don’t release MP3s if you don’t want to! Can’t wait to listen to this
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 am
Thanks for the comments, guys. And like I said, iTunes/iPod users should grab the ALAC package and it should be smooth sailing.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
My heart is always filled with joy when I see lossless download options. If you’re lucky enough to have nice listening gear (and the hdd space), then it makes a difference. Thanks Phlogiston!
But ya, I guess some people do still benefit from MP3….
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Agreement with the above sentiments. FLAC, ALAC are great with an expensive sound system on a home computer. But with any mp3 player (with reduced capacity and ability) it’s a waste of space unless you spend considerable amounts for add-on hardware.
Just because it’s not a problem for me to use the format and I can benefit from it doesn’t mean the internet is ready for such a revolution.
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Ahh, don’t you now that my harddisk is **always** full, no matter how big it is? And I think I am not the only guy having this chronic problem.
June 5th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
phlogiston — i’m just happy your freaking releasing a new album!!!!
June 8th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
It’s not like converting FLAC to mp3 is the hardest thing in the world anyway. LAME and Foobar2000 make converting easy as pie, and let you choose what bitrate you want.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Could you at least use stronger file compression, like .tar.bz2 or .7z instead of .zip?
June 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Probably not for the time being because those compression formats are much less prevalent and from the standpoint of Pause as a whole we want to be accessible. We’re making an exception for artists and file formats specific to the music itself. You’re the first person to bring up file compression so if other people ask for alternatives (such as RAR, for instance), we’ll consider it.
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I’m glad to hear about your intentions. FLAC gets quite good compression rates for audio, sure it’s heavier than MP3, but I think it’s a fair price for lossless quality. Also FLAC is a free audio codec whereas MP3 is not and I believe that to be a great benefit. It’s a shame so few PMPs support free quality codecs like Vorbis and FLAC, but at least with FLAC you can always convert the files to MP3/M4A/WMA without it being a second generation lossy compression. In an ideal world frame PMPs can carry Vorbis files, music sites stream Vorbis for me to hear before downloading and my external HDD has all my music collection in a lossless FLAC flavor.
For the archiver I’d also recommend a free format. I think this is very important in a way that everyone has the right to attempt at the better implementation of it, not just selected corporations.
Before logging off I’d like to go off-topic and tell a curiosity: Spotify uses Vorbis, which is better than MP3. Music streamed through Spotify isn’t meant to play in any PMP, so they’re not tied to the inferior MP3 format and they don’t have to pay any licence.
So, I think FLAC is a good choice because I consider lossless+free to be the way to go since connections get faster and faster.
Thanks for all the music.