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Isn't the fact that it's "good, free, and open" the exact reasons the publishers wouldn't use it? It kinda flies in the face of them being tyrannical mongrels controlling the media distribution if customers can actually meaningfully use it.

From the publisher's point of view, MP3 is as free and open as FLAC is. That's why a lot of them do sell FLAC. Like the Beatles (before they were even in the Apple store), the Rolling Stones and even Metallica.

Seems like most people mentioned all the other sources I knew of... though there is also Creative Commons Audio.

Not too much stuff here but it's all free: http://stash.nugs.net/stash.asp.

http://www.redferret.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php

Even Lars Ulrich has softened up and offered live Metallica concert downloads for free.

P.S. Check out the music video in my sig while you're at it... it's a monologue about destroying technology by a rapper from the year 3030.

There's always Magnatune; they offer FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, VBR MP3, AAC, and even 128k MP3 (gratis) for all their albums. Hell, if you like Metallica, even they offer FLAC and MP3 recordings of their concerts. More sites that sell or offer FLACs are listed on FLAC's website.

Metallica doesn't entirely suck at life. They release their live shows for $10 in DRM free MP3 or FLAC (flac is $13). These shows will basically be 2 cds long with decent sound quality for a decent price. From their site: (Live Metallica FAQ

"Can I share the files I buy at LiveMetallica.com?
As you can all see, we have chosen not to encrypt or shackle these files in any way. There is a certain level of trust associated with LiveMetallica.com's operation.
You will have 48 hours from the time you start downloading to completely download each show you purchase. We'd be fooling ourselves to think that these files won't be shared by some friends, and there's nothing we can do to STOP you from doing so.
All we can do is to ask you straight up: Do the right thing. Please be cool and don't share your files."

This is just for live shows, but I believe it sets a great example for how bands can share content with their fans and still make a little more $$. Though if someone spends close to $100 for a show he/she should probably get the shows download for free :-)

They offer MP3 and FLAC downloads of all their concerts. No DRM.

It's ripped from the soundboard, mixed, and the most expensive one I've seen was 15 bucks for a flac 2 CD concert. I think it's a great thing.

FLAC is overkill unless you want to rebuild your audio CDs in their pristine state. If your are going strictly for archival purposes, FLAC is the way to go.

And format changes. MP3? OGG? WMA? AAC? not-yet-released-format X? FLAC is definately the most future-proof format, and the cost of a 250GB HDD is nothing like the time spent ripping. Even within a format there are many different encoders and qualities. FLAC is a way to be able to always change your mind.

But you are basically saying the same thing I am. If you are going for archival purposes then FLAC is the way to go--whether you are rebuilding CD Audio or new Vorbis or MP3 files. Same difference...

I like buying on-line music in FLAC format, for example when I purchase from places like Magnatune or Live Metallica. I keep those FLAC files and then covert them into whatever I need. Perfect quality files to start with since I am not getting a physical CD with my purchase...

I see your point though, if you dump to FLAC first you can easily batch convert those files into whatever other codec you wish. A really quick way to media shift your entire collection in one easy CLI command. Moving metadata with the media shift is the real trick though, eh? Also, it's going to be a while before portable players have the kind of storage your taking about. There again, FLAC for archiving is great, but you have to consider other formats for more general usages...

Long post short(er), I agree--FLAC is the ideal to use to archive your CD collection as media shifting from that point is a snap. Still, Vorbis at q=6 is pretty good too and not going away either, since it's a patent-free open codec. Not lossless of course, but good enough for my purposes...

Get over it WRT Metallica. Seems like they are keeping the spirit of their original idea without canibalizing sales of studio work.

I love sites such as http://livephish.com/ or http://livemetallica.com/ because they offer lossless FLAC downloads. Not only can I convert this into whatever the best format my portable player will play, but I am guaranteed that in 10 years I can do it again without quality loss. I will not purchase music online unless it is the same quality it would be if I purchased it in the store, and is of course, discounted to reflect the mininimal distribution costs involved with online distribution.

Metallica are selling FLACs of their live concerts here. In their FAQ they acknowledge that they know they aren't DRM protected and can be shared.

The main problem with this is Slashdot itself. When I discovered this at least six months ago I thought this was pretty major news as Metallica were one of the main, vocal opponents of DRM free music, which of course means it easily can be distributed via P2P file sharing. Do you think my Slashdot submission was noticed ? I don't ever remember seeing it.

Maybe Slashdot has secretly been taken over by RIAA, and don't want Metallica's change of heart to be known about by anti-DRM proponents.

While maybe not popular here on /., Metallica does exactly what you're talking about. They sell soundboard recordings of every concert in both MP3 and FLAC, usually within 48 hours of the show. For those that care, its here.

From what I understand, just like the service Phish has. I just wish more bands did the same.

Oddly enough, Metallica, the former poster child of the anti-Napster crowd, has a system like that: www.livemetallica.com.

DRM-free FLAC files can be downloaded with a few days of a concert happening.

I recently did just this for the Metallica concert I went to. They give you the option of mp3 or flac for the soundboard recordings.
It's a download only thing, but they also make up some jewel case inserts for burning it once you get it downloaded. There is no DRM whatsoever on the files. I think the cost is $9.95 for the mp3 and 12.95 for the flac and you get 2 CD's worth of music (approximately 2 hours depending on the show you want to download). Although everyone here hates them this seems to me to be quite fair. Live Metallica

I did this with Metallica. At Live Metallica you can buy and download any Metallica show on their current tour. They have FLAC versions too, and I was able to get the show that I was at. They even have CD labels and case liners and stuff in PDF form. Pretty cool.

Metallica's (well E/M Ventures, the corporation that their label, their management, and the members of the band own the shares in) already getting c.$0.40 for tracks. $4.00 per CD divided by 10-14 tracks per CD.

Their live-music download operation gets them $9.95 for 128-kbit MP3 show (20 tracks, counting "Kirk Doodle #1", etc., so $0.50 per track or $0.08 per minute) or $12.95 for a FLAC show ($0.65 per track, $0.11 per minute). Of course, there's server and bandwidth costs associated with this, but assuming that it costs 3 times as much to send a FLAC as an MP3, $0.40 per track is reasonable.

Metallica has rejected iTMS and a couple of similar services for three reasons:

• cost structure would actually mean less money
• having every song available separately ruins the sanctity of the art of the album
• DRM software and platform restrictions limit the ability of their fans to hear the music