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Buying FLAC songs from the internet?

post #1 of 14
5/5/12 at 9:18am
Thread Starter 
While I lived in the Philippines, I found it difficult to purchase CDs of good quality. The CDs sold there were usually pirated music that came from China. They were cheap, but of poor quality to say the least.

So, there was always Limewire. Before the government shut Limewire down, you could pick and choose just about any song that was ever recorded and download it as MP3. Worked great. You could burn these MP3 songs to CD, and get more than 100 separate songs on each CD. Really worked great for listening in the car.

Well, now I am living here in the US and I would like these same songs, but in FLAC format to play on my Network Reicever on my 2-channel audio system. I want better sound quality than MP3.

Most people I know buy used CDs cheap on Ebay and then just convert them to FLAC to play on there home audio system.

The problem with this is that I don't want to hear a whole album. I may only want 1 song from that album, so I really don't want to buy hundreds of album type CDs.

Is there any internet company that you can pay for each song in FLAC format, or something of just as high of audio quality?

I have maybe 300 60s and 70s oldies that are MP3. I would like to download all 300 of these various rock oldies from the internet (paying for each song of course), so I can throw away those poor quality MP3 CDs.

How much would it cost per song? I really don't want the price to be too expensive since i need at least 300 songs. And the company selling these downloadable songs would need to have a really big data base, so I could find all of them. Back to Limewire .. you could find just about any song there.

Any suggestions besides buying used CDs on Ebay?

Thank's,
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post #2 of 14
5/5/12 at 6:11pm
Thread Starter 
130 looks ... but no replies

I am supprised nobody on this board has been downloading FLAC songs from internet music sources. I guess everyone just buys used CDs
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post #3 of 14
5/6/12 at 12:43am
HD tracks sells by the track or album in FLAC.
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post #4 of 14
5/6/12 at 5:07am
Thread Starter 
Well, I logged into HD Tracks and did a search for music from some various 60s artists.

I found that you cannot search for a certain song by title (only by album name)


So, I entered some 60s rock artists (you can search by artist):

The Association: Nothing

Three Dog Night: Nothing

ZZ Top: Nothing

Chiffons: Nothing

Bobby Darin: Nothing

I came to the conclusion that HD Tracks is prettty worthless as far as finding any music I like.
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post #5 of 14
5/6/12 at 7:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flt Simulation View Post

Well, I logged into HD Tracks and did a search for music from some various 60s artists.

I found that you cannot search for a certain song by title (only by album name)


So, I entered some 60s rock artists (you can search by artist):

Bobby Darin: Nothing

I came to the conclusion that HD Tracks is prettty worthless as far as finding any music I like.

I don't know about the others, but there is one Darin album there. Artists are also alphabetically listed.

Keep in mind that popular singles (hits) are worth much more than the rest of the songs on an album. If you buy 2 or 3 from an album, it will likely cost much of the whole album price.

Perhaps start looking at albums with mostly hits - compilations like "The Essential (artist name)" etc.?
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post #6 of 14
5/6/12 at 9:22pm
Too bad you couldn't find anything you liked. They seem to be adding new artists regularly so check back from time to time, maybe you'll find something.
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post #7 of 14
5/6/12 at 9:27pm
The downloads from itunes and even Amazon aren't that bad and their databases are big. You could try a few songs and see how you like them. Just a thought.
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post #8 of 14
5/7/12 at 7:03am
Thread Starter 
Thank's a bunch ....

I will check that out
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post #9 of 14
5/7/12 at 6:55pm
Both Google music and Amazon have 320k CBR MP3. I doubt anyone can tell the difference between these files and the FLAC equivalent. My CD collection is now ripped to both 240kb/s VBR MP3 and FLAC, I can't tell on either of my systems.

Every day each has a free download, check them out.
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post #10 of 14
5/8/12 at 8:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethawk View Post

Both Google music and Amazon have 320k CBR MP3. I doubt anyone can tell the difference between these files and the FLAC equivalent. My CD collection is now ripped to both 240kb/s VBR MP3 and FLAC, I can't tell on either of my systems.

Every day each has a free download, check them out.

With all due respect I have to disagree completely.

In the past 3 months I have purchased a media server which allowed me to replace thousands of 360 kb/s CBR MP3 files with FLAC files. I have been stunned by the results. I have run A/B comparisons for several friends and everyone has agreed that the FLAC files provide better clarity throughout the spectrum. The last time I have heard results this dramatic was years ago when I went from vinyl to digital.
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post #11 of 14
5/8/12 at 8:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cabinguy View Post


In the past 3 months I have purchased a media server which allowed me to replace thousands of 360 kb/s CBR MP3 files with FLAC files.

I am confused ... How do you replace 1000s of MP3 files with FLAC files?

Did you just convert your original MP3 files directly to FLAC, or did you actually buy 1000s of FLAC songs that were a replacement for your old MP3 songs?
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post #12 of 14
5/8/12 at 1:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flt Simulation View Post

I am confused ... How do you replace 1000s of MP3 files with FLAC files?

Re-rip from actual CDs?

A bit old school, I know. But that's why I still insist on waiting for an actual physical disc to turn up in the post from Amazon. Otherwise I'd now be stuck with most of the music I bought five ago being 128k AAC or MP3.

And sadly, ripping a real CD yourself is still the only "legal" way to get most stuff onto a computer or network at actual CD quality.
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post #13 of 14
5/8/12 at 2:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cabinguy View Post

With all due respect I have to disagree completely.

In the past 3 months I have purchased a media server which allowed me to replace thousands of 360 kb/s CBR MP3 files with FLAC files. I have been stunned by the results. I have run A/B comparisons for several friends and everyone has agreed that the FLAC files provide better clarity throughout the spectrum. The last time I have heard results this dramatic was years ago when I went from vinyl to digital.

You can disagree, but there is either something wrong with the ripping process or you and your friends are aliens, because discerning the difference is impossible through human ears. I'm betting that either that A/B comparison was through different hardware (or player) or it was not a blind test.

The maximum bitrate for MP3 is 320k, by the way.
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post #14 of 14
5/8/12 at 4:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethawk View Post


The maximum bitrate for MP3 is 320k, by the way.

Yup ... unfortunatly, the majority of my MP3s are 128k or 160k

Limewire!
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