Does anyone collect OTR in the FLAC file format?

father knows best 54-03-04 spring cleaning AFRS 150.flac

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Buck -- sent you a private message a while ago -- did you get it
-- Greybelt

Sorry do not have railroad in flac. I am starting with box 1 and working up to box 8.

jack benny 54-02-07 AFRS 367.flac

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lets pretend 54-07-17 jason and the golden fleece AFRS 328.flac

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my little margie AFRS 34.flac

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name that tune-first tune dixie AFRS 40.flac

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our miss brooks AFRS 162.flac

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twenty questions 54-03-03 first subjet bobby mcguire AFRS.flac

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your playhouse of favorites-the dusty drawer AFRS 24.flac

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Never let it be said I don't return favors.  Here is the very first episode of The RailRoad Hour in Flac format starring Gordon MacRae from the Radio Archives RailRoad hour CD Volume 3 and 4 are on sale 50% off $8.99! Here

Gordon MacRae's Railroad Hour 1948-10-04 (001) Good News
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Thank you everyone for sharing these great Flac files!  Please keep sharing! I'm really looking for more shows of Al Jolson on Kraft from the 1947-1948 season from November of 1947 on.

44-08-13 fitch bandwagon guest less brown & doris day AFRS #114.flac
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44-10-03 burns and allen show gracie is determined to protect bill goodwin from a gold digger AFRS #50.flac
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46-01-20 charlie mccarthy show guest rita hayworth AFRS#130.flac
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What setting's should I be recording at? I've noticed a 45 minute show at Max 16 bit is just under 80 meg while a Max 24 bit is just under 224 meg. I can't hear any difference?

If can't hear any difference don't worry

I definitely am interested in the Railroad Hour in FLAC!  Thanks.

patrickwinn wrote:I definitely am interested in the Railroad Hour in FLAC!  Thanks.

Great then here is the second episode of the series!

Gordon MacRae's Railroad Hour 1948-10-11 (002) Anything Goes
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Thanks much Buck!

1 47-10-02-Kraft Music Hall (254)-Guest - Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy

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2 47-10-09-Kraft Music Hall (255)-Guest - Lauritz Melchoir

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Yeeesss!  I've been looking for the Kraft Music Hall with Al Jolson and Oscar Levant!  Keep going Mike!

Here is the next one that Mike already posted earlier.

47-10-16-Kraft Music Hall (256)-Guest - Bing Crosby

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Here is The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show for Fitch Shampoo in Flac format.  Tell me if you want me to post more.

1948-02-08 A Date For Willie.flac
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1948-02-15 Baby Plans.flac
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keilj_33 wrote:The audio CDs in my collection were received in trades from collectors like Terry Salomonson, Ed Carr, Ted Davenport, and many others. Some were ripped fro CDs from Radio Spirits and Radio Archive.

You'd have to test the CD's too to make sure they weren't mp3-sourced.  I'm not suggesting that any of those named would have knowingly passed on anything bogus, but sometimes a CD will be copied in a chain from person to person and if nobody checks it they'll not know.  If your audio editor allows you to look at a waveform as a "spectral view" it's quite easy to see if something is mp3-sourced, and you can often even take a good guess at what bitrate it was with some degree of accuracy. (And you can also use the same method to see when mp3's have been re-encoded from 32 to higher.  Spoiler: There's a lot of those.)

Buck Benny wrote:What setting's should I be recording at?  I've noticed a 45 minute show at Max 16 bit is just under 80 meg while a Max 24 bit is just under 224 meg.  I can't hear any difference?

16 bit is quite sufficient.  I know people who encode at 24 and higher but I've found it unnecessary.

One tip when converting wav to flac is that if you make your flac mono rather than the default stereo it'll be half the size (obviously don't do this if it really is stereo!).  Most OTR is mono but a lot of files are stereo but with mono on both channels.  What I do is compare the left and the right (because occasionally one is better than the other, or if it's vinyl there may be more clicks in the left or the right), then I keep the good channel only and make my flac from that.

EDIT to add something else that came to me while I was watching TV:

Why flac is important...

Does a flac sound the same as an mp3.  Yes, sometimes.  But let me clarify... Will a flac (encoded from a wav file) sound the same as that *same* wav file encoded to an mp3 at a decent bitrate?  Yes, absolutely (especially as OTR by it's very nature doesn't have as wide a frequency range as a modern digital recording of, say, an orchestra).  Does a new flac that someone encoded from a disc/reel/tape source sound the same as the mp3 you already have?  No.  The new flac has it's full frequency range whereas the old mp3 is likely to be low bitrate and has been re-encoded an unknown number of times.

If you download an mp3 you have no idea how many times it's been re-encoded, messed about with, overzealously dehissed, etc.  You're wanting to hear a file in the best quality possible, but with an mp3 you have no way of knowing how degraded it is.

With flac (by examining it spectrally) you can tell if it's ever been encoded as an mp3.

That's why it's important.

So yes, flac is useful for new transfers from disc or tape, or for cd rips, but not for manipulations of existing mp3's