The New York Times publishes an article on this new music format on February 21, 2008. “Like MP3, FLAC is a compression standard for music files, but unlike MP3, it is lossless, meaning it doesn’t degrade sound quality.” New York Times ‘Put Another File in the Jukebox, Baby‘
Is this a big deal? To people with perfect pitch and incredible ears yes. To people with everyday hearing who just want to hear a good song that is audible (the majority of the world), no. Right now most portable devices do not support FLAC so there is no need to worry. It is just something I want to make my readers aware of.
New music formats are constantly being developed. However, that does not necessarily mean that technology can support the format. A great example of this is Windows’ new operating system Vista. Vista sucks up a lot more RAM and processing power than it’s predecessor Windows XP. Most computers made prior to Vista are not powerful enough to support Vista. On the same note ipods and other Mp3 players cannot support FLAC.
So where does this leave you? Just make a mental note for now. As FLAC becomes more popular you will starting seeing it on the news or in commercials. Thus far Apple, Dell, and Sony have not released FLAC players so no worries. If they do, check with the online retailers who distribute your music (like itunes) to see if they are offering your music in FLAC. More than likely they would notify you via email.
By Jamille Luney
Music Analyst
Filed under: Music Industry's Future | Tagged: FLAC, itunes FLAC, Jamille Luney, Jamille Luney Analyst, Jamille Luney Music Analyst, Mp3, Mp3 players FLAC files, new music format, New York Times, NY Times, portable devices and FLAC files, Vista
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