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Poll

Which do you prefer

I prefer (.ape) Monkey's Audio
[ 116 ] (35%)
I prefer (.flac) Free Lossless Audio Codec
[ 202 ] (61%)
I prefer another lossless codec
[ 13 ] (3.9%)

Total Members Voted: 481

Topic: APE vs FLAC (Read 52880 times) previous topic - next topic
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APE vs FLAC

Reply #25
I guess the poll should've included other choices like Wavpack, lpac, optimfrog, etc...
I use Monkey's Audio as well. Is there anything similar to .APL for FLAC?
The object of mankind lies in its highest individuals.
One must have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #26
Seeing as all the "other" codecs grouped only have <5%, no point listing them separately

I found the FLAC filter for CoolEd was missing things like setting the compression level, it saves .fla rather than .flac, and I don't trust it until it is labelled as totally safe, I remember the first test giving anomalous file-sizes and it was only furthered by 1 build..

Isn't the difference between FLAC & APE's "error correction" caused by FLAC using frames.  If the file corrupts (hard disk sector failure) then only a small part of your FLAC dies, but your APE is ruined.  Either way, it's no longer lossless to me (both files are damaged)..  but it's an improvement in that you only have to repair a small segment of data.  It's no less likely to fail though, unless FLAC includes some kind of algorithm to improve magnetic stability  Josh?
< w o g o n e . c o m / l o l >

APE vs FLAC

Reply #27
FLAC because decoding is faster.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you."

APE vs FLAC

Reply #28
OSS forever! nuff said

APE vs FLAC

Reply #29
What about hardware support?  I know FLAC has already got some sort of hardware support.  Check out PhatNoise, although very pricy, it is hardware support!  What about all the other lossless codecs.  Do they already have hardware support of any kind, or any plans for hardware support in the near future?

APE vs FLAC

Reply #30
With the issues concerning using lossy for archival it was impossible to ignore lossless as a solution. Monkey's (normal mode) has the best efficiency which means the whole process of archiving is done faster than any other codec. I am not speaking in terms of using the most current PC's either but of quiet PC's where a slow encoder wastes time and an inefficient encoder wastes space...
edit: ... and wasted space is wasted time because of the increased time burning to disc (and increased number of discs used).

WavPack does have the efficiency factor going for it too and now that it has a FLT being developed it looks even more attractive.

If there was a DVD portable with FLAC that would make my X-mas wishlist.
"Something bothering you, Mister Spock?"

APE vs FLAC

Reply #31
I suppose a big advantage of Monkey's Audio is Lame support with the modified compile from rarewares. It would be great to see FLAC support too (I assume LA has no chance).
Happiness - The agreeable sensation of contemplating the misery of others.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #32
Another plus for FLAC is replay gain support. I don't think APE has that.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #33
Monkeys - it puts its tags at the back of the file - better for updating and more bullet proof.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #34
Absolutely APE, because of the file size...
Where's my Plextor ?! > Exact Audio Copy > foobar2000  > RME HDSP 9632 > Denon PMA-725R > Dynaudio Audience 42 (or Beyerdynamic DT 531)

APE vs FLAC

Reply #35
Quote
Another plus for FLAC is replay gain support. I don't think APE has that.

it does with TEH FOOBAR2000.

Another thread hijacked.... 
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you."

APE vs FLAC

Reply #36
Quote
Absolutely APE, because of the file size...

big deal, is only like 20Mb per Image.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you."



APE vs FLAC

Reply #39
Quote
If the file corrupts (hard disk sector failure) then only a small part of your FLAC dies, but your APE is ruined.


You're wrong my friend. If you use MA itself for decompressing corrupted file - Yeah ... only part before error
will be decompressed but try Winamp and you will see ...

I personally use APE for it's compression at reasonable speed and for tagging support via Abander TagControl. Also WavPack via it's CEP filter.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #40
I have a few ape's, and no FLAC's. I'm leaning toward FLAC...especially since the Neuros and Rio Pearl should support it (soon?). I just picked a Sony DVD drive, so I should be able to fit at least nine compressed albums on a DVD. In the meantime, I've been simulating lossless encoding quality with vorbis.

xen-uno
No one can be told what Ogg Vorbis is...you have to hear it for yourself
- Morpheus

APE vs FLAC

Reply #41
I have many GBs of Ape file, but have started using flac now after having some issues with file corruption. I also like the better *nix support, as I am trying to get into that more and a huge majority of my audio files are lossless.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #42
I use WMA, because of compatibility, and it's size.  But before that I used APE all the time.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #43
I use APE because they have a monkey and monkey's make me laugh.

FLAC doesn't have a mascot.  Boo!

APE vs FLAC

Reply #44
Personally I like Monkey's Audio because it generally has better compression than flac and I'm not worried about compatibility/potential future access/open source issues.

However, I did want to add that I tried Optimfrog with some Audiobooks I was encoding and it was routinely compressing 10-20% better than Monkey's Audio (High) at comparable (same order of magnitude at least) speeds.  I was pleasantly surprised...unfortunately, I didn't try flac on those audiobooks for comparison.

My 2 cents worth....

APE vs FLAC

Reply #45
Quote
What about hardware support? I know FLAC has already got some sort of hardware support. Check out PhatNoise, although very pricy, it is hardware support! What about all the other lossless codecs. Do they already have hardware support of any kind, or any plans for hardware support in the near future?


I wouldn't get too concerned about hardware support. With lossless you can transfer losslessly from anything to anything else for the sake of a hardware requirement anyway... 

If APE tags are important, both Wavpack and Optifrog support APE via Case's Tag.

Den.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #46
I asked before in the thread but I guess I wasn't too clear. Is there a way to rip entire image into flac and play tracks individually later on? Foobar might do that but it's an exception , is there a way for WinAmp FLAC plugin to do that? Monkey's Audio has specific APL extension files designed for this purpose: Given CUE sheet it produces APL files which are <100 bytes then you can drag & drop those files for individual track playback... That's one damn handy feature I'd say.
The object of mankind lies in its highest individuals.
One must have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #47
Howdy,

I have been using Monkeys Audio since like Version 1. Has always been an excellent piece of software. Plus for me it's the ease of use for the frontend. Compresses nicely, and then I can encode mp3's in a few click out of my ape's...
Also, FLAC's compressions ratio dosen't stack up to MA, extra high mode....

Burgerings

APE vs FLAC

Reply #48
some points...

1. encoding speed: if you are encoding while ripping, encoding speed doesn't really matter as long as it's faster than ripping.  it's the decoding speed that counts if you're ever going to play back on anything but a PC.

2. APL for FLAC, or playing FLAC albums as tracks: in winamp2 I think mp3cue works for FLAC also.  I expected more players to support playing from embedded cue sheets since the API makes it very easy.  it would be pretty easy to do a hack like APL for FLAC but I just haven't gotten around to it and no one else has sent a patch.

3. MAC for the extra compression: for those who gave that reason... if that's the main reason then why not use other codecs that have even higher compression?

Josh

APE vs FLAC

Reply #49
Quote
And please tell me why

I voted for flac because i can use it on mac and win machines, sometimes I use shorten too.

cheers
f.