Hi Hannah, it's basically a lossless (uncompressed) file format, similar to wav. Hope this helps. -- Chris Hallsworth Please visit my blog at http://chrishallsworth.wordpress.com You wrote: Hi there not being rude or anything i know flack file is a file but i never heard of them what is it? REgards hannah ----- Original Message ----- From: Peter Logue To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 11:26 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: An Audio Question Hi Kevin, If I get the chance I'll rip a CD in a lossless format. Flac if I can get it or WMA otherwise. This does many times quadripple the size of the file, but as you say, hard drives are cheap these days. I sometimes take a copy of a CD for personal use from my local library and rip it as WMA or flac format, my windows media player will play both WMA or flac. The quality is superb. But for my little portable Iriver the 320 kbps files are just great, though the Iriver does also play flac files. Peter Logue From beautiful Helensburgh on the firth of Clyde. Skype Contact: clydeview2008 ----- Original Message ----- From: Kevin Lloyd To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 8:44 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: An Audio Question Hi Roger. I agree with the responses to your question that I've read from other listers so far. Wishy washy substitute is not really giving MP3 encoded at good high bit rates the credit it deserves. Having said this though, it really is horses for courses. If you're planning to play your music back through a good quality hi-fi then I'd definitely recommend ripping in a lossless format. Even at high bit rates like 320kbps there is a loss of high and low frequencies resulting in a sort of boxed in sound with MP3. I think I'm right in quoting that CD's have an equivalent bit rate of around 1300kbps so you can see what lossy formats like MP3 have to chuck away to get down to that size. Ripping in a lossless format will usually yield files between 900 and 1000kbps so there is a file size saving without compromising any sound quality at all. You need to bear in mind that hard drives are relatively cheap these days so why compromise your music collection when you can have it all stored on a couple of hard drives, one for back up of course. MP3 is absolutely fine for listening through portable devices and the computer. Generally you won't see the benefits of lossless formats on these low end audio devices. Regards. Kevin E-mail: kevin.lloyd3@xxxxxxx ----- Original Message ----- From: roger.south To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 3:45 PM Subject: [access-uk] An Audio Question Hi All As most of you may be aware I have a severe hearing problem but manage with the help of modern technology. I have just come across a post on another list where a member is being less than complimentary about MP3 audio tracks. Describing them as "a wishy-washy substitute for sound quality" Out of curiosity is the fall of in quality converting to MP3 that so very noticeable or is he exaggerating? Roger ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq