FLAC files from BitTorrent

[thegazelle]

A question for any tech people out there. I recently gave BitTorrent a try after finding a live Built to Spill show available. When all was said and done I tried to open the file, but it was in FLAC format, so nothing I had would play it (never even heard of it). Some research indicated that you can either install a codec in Windows Media Player or convert the format to mp3 using an encoder. My question: does this work well enough to maintain sound quality, or should I do something else? Also, are a lot of files on BitTorrent FLAC?
 Thanks.

[distance]

you can get a flac plugin for winamp.
 
 "mp3" and "maintain sound quality" don't belong in the same discussion.
 
 if you're looking for lossless, live audio, you're going to run into flac.

<img src="http://www.oddculture.com/ba/images/aflac.jpg" alt=" - " />
 FLAC!

[Arlette]

Here's some info:
 
 FLAC is a "lossless" compression, which means that the source audio file is compressed, but without sacrificing any of the audio information contained in the master recording. An extracted FLAC file sounds identical to the original source (44.1 kHz, 16 bit stereo). The high fidelity FLAC files are much larger files than MP3 and will take longer to download and require more disc space to store.
 
 Note that although the FLAC file format offers a higher audio quality, it is not supported by some audio players, including iTunes and Windows Media Player. The files must be first converted to .WAV files.  For more information regarding FLAC files you may visit
 
 http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html
 
 Bascially, you can't listen to a FLAC file, you want to convert it to a .WAV file.

[eros]

I never quite understood the reason for lossless bootleg recordings.  Is it so you can more faithfully hear the guy next to you talking on his cell phone?

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by eros:
  I never quite understood the reason for lossless bootleg recordings.  Is it so you can more faithfully hear the guy next to you talking on his cell phone?

bootlegs aren't disseminated like official CDs, you have a seed recording that gets sent out over the internet, if you compromise the quality of the seed, you can never really get that back ... with an official CD it's very easy to find the original lossless recording ... so download the FLAC (or SHN, or whatever) of the boot and convert it to whatever you want, but if you distribute it by FLAC you know it hasn't been burned to a CD, ripped with into 128kpbs, then sent out and reburned to another CD