[tlug] [C&C] AAC is lossy, FLAC is lossless

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 23/07/07, jep200404 <jep200404@example.com> wrote:

> AAC is lossy.
> FLAC, not FLAAC
> Also, FLAC is not just a FL version of AAC.

Thanks for straightening me out, Jim.

Now that I know the difference between FLAC and AAC (and hopefully my
ass and a hole in the ground)...

What lossless codec would people recommend for audio? Brett, you have
some experience--IIRC--with audio engineering; do you have a favourite
codec?

Let's assume the following "user story"[1]:

Joe Bob User (a redneck from South Carolina with a gunrack filled with
fishing poles in in his old Ford pickup truck, Confederate flag
proudly flying above his double-wide trailer) has heard that in the
21st century, physical media is increasingly passé. Being a High-Tech
Redneck[2], he "Googles" "passé"[3] and finds out what it means. Not
wanting to be passéd by (sorry!) by the relentless pace of technology,
he decides to "rip" all of his "Cee-Dees" to his computer. Being
smarter than the average bear[4], he realises that the MP3 format
played by his "ah-Pod" (not an iPod, just a generic $20 MP3 player he
bought at Wal-Mart) might, in 10 to 20 years, go the way of the
eight-track player he had installed in his truck back in '89. So he
emails his friend, an employee of "Google" in "Korea". Said friend
emails his local "Unix Users Group" and poses the following question:

"My poor redneck friend, Joe Bob User, Good Ole Boy and Member of a
Country Club[5] (country music is what he loves; drives an ol' Ford
pickup truck; does his drankin' from a Dixie cup), wants to rip all of
his CDs to a lossless format so that he can then transcode to MP3 for
his portable audio player that he bought for $20 at WalMart (but which
I just picked up here in "Rabahakia"[6] for 500 "Korean" "won"), and
then in 20 years, transcode to an awesome Next-Gen codec like Ogg
Vorbis[7]. What lossless codec should I recommend to him?"

Cheers,
Josh

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story
    Happy, Curt? ;)
[2] http://www.amazon.com/High-Tech-Redneck-George-Jones/dp/B000002OPX
[3] http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pass%C3%A9
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Bear
[5] http://www.amazon.com/Country-Club-Travis-Tritt/dp/B000002LKD
[6] Here, is this better? らばはきあ
[7] http://vorbis.com/