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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 53196 times) previous topic - next topic
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APE vs FLAC

Reply #75 –
I still use Monkey's Audio, 'cause sometimes I need the extra space to store 2 or even 3 albuns on one CD-R, like guruboolez said. Once I get a DVD+R burner I'll stop using APE completely. But I think it's still the most used lossless format, although this poll may indicate otherwise. At least that's my experience. I wish that FLAC could improve its average compression ratio a bit, without losing its main virtues, which are speed, hardware support (besides being OSS). I know it's easier said than done, though...

cya

APE vs FLAC

Reply #76 –
depends on the application

flac is clearly the preferred format for sharing live music. 

ape is used for pirating studio albums, but other than that it seems to be the choice mostly for those looking to do archiving and backup

shn is still the most widely used lossless format, by far

APE vs FLAC

Reply #77 –
I use Monkey's Audio for storing all music on my PC.

- Even though FLAC is faster, Monkey's seems damn quick on my XP1800. (a lot faster than lame btw) Decompression while listening doesn't even use 1% of my CPU, so thats not a problem.

- Monkey's compression is better. The amount of albums I have stored with Monkey's now takes up a lot of gigs, but with FLAC I imagine it would take up a lot more.

- The Monkey's GUI is ace, dead simple to use and integrates with explorer nicely

APE vs FLAC

Reply #78 –
Using APE extra-high is nonsense. Generates only 1 % shorter files than in high-mode, but needs about 70 % more (processor-)time to compress/decompress and play. So, everything is OK: fast, normal, high. All above (extra-high, insane) not. High seems to be the "golden middle", which I use.
My used codecs and settings:
FLAC V1.1.2 -4 / APE V3.99 Update 4 -high / MPC V1.15v --q 5 / LAME V3.97b2 -V2 --vbr-new / OGG aoTuV V4.51 Lancer -q5

APE vs FLAC

Reply #79 –
Quote
Using APE extra-high is nonsense. [...] High seems to be the "golden middle", which I use.

Relax! Why are you trying to convince people to use YOUR favourite settings?
The higher CPU usage during playback (just 2 to 5% on modern PCs) is probably irrelevant for most people. So why not squeeze the last bit of compression out of it? Remember, it's still LOSSLESS. 

Btw. while we're talking about CPU usage: I'm using La. 

APE vs FLAC

Reply #80 –
It's not just RAF's favourite / non favourite settings. I'd say most people don't even know or care to know what other impacts the highest setting has. And it isn't "just 2 to 5% on modern PCs" all that matters. That is just normal playback. Try seeking. If my P4 can't seek 5 or 10 seconds forward/backward right away with APE extra high (cpu goes to 100% for a few moments), then that tiny little difference in size is useless.

APE vs FLAC

Reply #81 –
I use MAC because it has a DLL that allows direct ripping to APE in EAC including APEv2 tagging in the 3.98a version (yes alpha but it never caused probs for me).

Haven't found this for Flac yet. Anybody knows wether it exists or not? Or is on the roadmap?
No inspiration

APE vs FLAC

Reply #82 –
Quote
I use MAC because it has a DLL that allows direct ripping to APE in EAC including APEv2 tagging in the 3.98a version (yes alpha but it never caused probs for me).

Haven't found this for Flac yet. Anybody knows wether it exists or not? Or is on the roadmap?

Not sure why support has to be in DLL form when you can just use an external encoder or MAREO... but, there is a DLL for libFLAC (has been for a while) and there is no problem linking against it under the Xiph license.  Try pinging the author for support.

Josh

APE vs FLAC

Reply #83 –
Quote
I use MAC because it has a DLL that allows direct ripping to APE in EAC including APEv2 tagging in the 3.98a version (yes alpha but it never caused probs for me).

Haven't found this for Flac yet. Anybody knows wether it exists or not? Or is on the roadmap?

You could try to write this on the command line option:

-V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

Or for compression level 5

-V -5 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

And It'll automatically add tags to your ripped flac files, don't know if this is what you're looking for but It tags your files.
XviD