[afsd]

Hi all,

Just about to download my first album and was wondering what exactly is the FreeFormat "Original Recording" option.... is this the lossless .wav file from which I can encode to whatever I want?

Thanks!
afsd

[RedSmurf]

Originally Posted by afsd

Hi all,

Just about to download my first album and was wondering what exactly is the FreeFormat "Original Recording" option.... is this the lossless .wav file from which I can encode to whatever I want?

No, it is a 384kbps MP3 file. This is the format that they use for all their "Online encoding" (OE) albums. Only the "Online Encoding Exclusive" (OEX) albums can be downloaded in lossless audio.
The problem is that the official MP3 standard only allows bitrates up to 320kbps. The "FreeFormat" is not supported by most MP3 players. If you want to have the highest MP3 quality possible that's still usable without hassle, you're better off downloading in 320kbps.

If for some reason you want to re-encode the file yourself, you could download in this format (or in lossless if available). But, mind that MP3Sparks charges per megabyte, so if you're going to re-encode to a lower bitrate anyway, you're better off letting Sparks do it for you so you can download a smaller file.

[Eztli]

I don't buy anything in OE since it is a transcode and thus lower quality.

The FreeFormat MP3 is almost completely unplayable, unless you have a specific player.