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Why buy downloads from us?
Two reasons:
Can I get individual songs, or only full albums? At this store you can only buy the full album, which includes the artwork from the CD. However you can listen to all the music first for free on each album page, and if you browse this site you will find a few songs available as free downloads from each artist.
MP3 is a "lossy" audio format, which means that the quality of the sound is sacrificed to make the file smaller. The advantage is that you can store a lot more music in a smaller space. The disadvantage is that when the file is compressed, some frequencies are lost. It boils down to quantity over quality.
Lossless audio is a song that is compressed without any loss in quality. The files remains larger than MP3's, however you are hearing all the details of high-fidelity sound. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is the fastest and most widely supported lossless audio codec (it is also open-source). It works similar to Zip, except with FLAC you get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio. To learn more about FLAC and see a list of supported devices, go to http://flac.sourceforge.net/
How do I listen to FLAC files? You can listen to FLAC files in one of two ways: use a music player that supports FLAC audio, such as Winamp with the FLAC pluggin (get plugin here) . Or you can convert the file into a format you prefer using a music converter, we suggest dBpowermp, or FLAC frontend.
We use a program called FLAC Frontend (click here for link)
Who else is using / supporting FLAC? FLAC is now becoming a widely supported format.
Apple lossless is similar to FLAC in that It compresses the original audio file without any loss in sound quality. It was created by Apple for direct use with iTunes software, and the i-pod. If you are using your i-pod in a docking unit, or connecting it to any exterior stereo or speakers, this is the format you will want for high-quality sound. If you are using iTunes 9 (latest version), and would like to convert the file format, simply go to your Edit tab, then go to Preferences. When this is open in the General tab, click on the Import Settings... button. Now look for the drop-down menu titled Import Using: these are the file format options for importing and converting music files. Select your format, then go back to your music library and right click on the song(s) you wish to convert. There will be an option to Create (your selected format here) version... whichever format you've selected in the import settings menu. Converting a file will create a second file in the new format, so you will still have your original file intact. Remember that you can only convert down in quality, for example from WAV or lossless audio to MP3, not vice versa.
1. If you still prefer to listen to the music in MP3 format, you can simply convert the lossless files using a music converter such as dBpowermp Some music players (like iTunes) have converters built right into them. 2. We have partnered with zunior.com, Canada's leading independent digital retailer. If you still want to download MP3's directly, our music catalouge is available here Are there any MP3's available on this site? Yes. If you visit the album pages on this website, each band has a select number of free MP3's that you can download in each album track listing.
More links on lossless and lossy audio formats More info on lossless and lossy audio formats for music Performance comparison of lossless audio compressors
Did we answer all of your questions? If not, please feel free to contact us at support@getbentrecords.com and we'll be more than happy to help you out as soon as we can. |