www.billnelson.com

Bill chose the Bandcamp service for his digital downloads because it retains the sonic quality of a CD using the FLAC format.

This enables you to download the file and burn it back to CD to create a clone of the original pressed version.

You can also download in a choice of other formats.

IMPORTANT

Make sure you select the format you want before clicking the Download link.

Just to be sure I understand correctly. Are you recommending AAC rather than FLAC as the best format to download. I would have thought thatwith FLAC being a much larger file that quality would be better ?

Forgive me for asking as I don't know my FLAC from my AAC, but what in gods name is "Ogg Vorbis"

Which one is best, what do you recommend ?

Reg, just jumping in until Paul arrives. Flac is indeed a larger file than AAC. But for the sake of brevity and not re-opening the old 'mine's bigger than yours' argument, it's entirely your choice. There are a few different option available but two things to consider: one, your Internet connection. Is it consistent? Or is it dodgy? Bigger files (Flac) will take longer to download than AAC, MP3 and the usual. And two, what format is most compatible with your computer? For example, I cannot play Flac files just by clicking on them. I need to download third-party options just to play them. Then if I want to burn Flac files to disc, then I would need to download another bit of gear to do that.

So once that's addressed then you have to consider sound quality, i.e., can you hear the difference between any of the files on offer? If you think you can and insist on downloading the biggest file type, then let that be your deciding factor. If you are still unsure about any of this then you'll need to ask some more questions. Hope that gets the very basics covered without confusing matters.

James, it's a monster from the 'Great Book Of Senseless Mythologies'! But seriously, it's one of the oldest and most obscure audio file types meant to sound impressive but the last known user died in 1904, uttering in his native tongue of Manx, 'You know, I really can't be bothered hanging around here waiting for the invention of the personal computer', and dropped dead on the spot.

But best is a wholly relative term. What's best, a Tesla, or a sound working, affordable car? Sometimes we are spoilt by the illusion of choice. Mind you, Paul might have a much more helpful answer.

I can't see wire recordings or wax cylinders on this drop down menu.......

If they were, there's little doubt there would be some set on arguing their benefits.

I'd be lying if I said I was an audiophile ; I just have exceptionally good taste in music . So I care a lot more about the music I'm listening to than I do about the fidelity of music I'm listening to .

On my drive(s) it's all a jumble off ripped tracks from cd's, recordings off of cassette tapes , audio recordings off of youtube , etc. . I make compilations with all of the above and the sound quality is all over the map and I don't care. It's the music that counts .

Oh, and I have slow internet and a dodgy connection, so mp3's are going to be fine for this old dog . Probably can't even hear anything over 15khz anyway, if that high . Doesn't Bill make scratchy noises , crackles and all that on some of his tunes anyway , on purpose ?

Thanks Asterisk for your help.
I had already downloaded the FLAC before I posted this and converted it to WAV and burned a disc without problem. In reality I suspect that my hearing is no longer able to distinguish the result from a more compressed format and in future will probably download the smaller files. The main thing is I now have the music to listen to. Thanks again

I think the post above from Asterisk is a pretty good summary of the situation.
The bigger the file download size the better the quality. FLAC was created to be a 'lossless' format so that you can burn tracks back to a blank CDr and have it sound exactly the same as a regular pressing CD.
Other formats are compressed so some audio quality is sacrificed.

You can download any of the formats on offer and burn them to a CDr with suitable program. The only difference will be the quality of the resulting audio.

Here's a link to some info about burning a disc.
http://www.billnelson.com/html/salon/burn.php

I just got a new iphone and I wanted to put some albums on it, but does anyone know if iphone will work with bandcamp? Its the first i device I've owned and so far its been a bit finicky!

Anyway I'm sure I can muddle through it eventually on my own, but just wondering if anyone else has already gone through the teeth gritting and light profanity and could spare me?