What are the FLAC or SHN files you offer for download?

FLAC (free lossless audio codec) and SHN (Shorten) are lossless compression algorithms for digital music. They compress music files to 50-60% of their original size, with no loss in quality, preserving the quality of the original concert recordings and source material, unlike MP3, AAC, and other "lossy" formats. FLAC in particular is now the preferred format for distributing and trading live show recordings.

How do you rate sound quality?

We are not audiophiles, but we have used these general terms to describe sound quality in the description boxes accompanying the downloads:

Excellent - A+/A Superior, near commercial quality, clean sounding, among the best live documents of the Lips
Great - A-/B+ Commendable quality, highly recommended, raw/live sounding but extremely clear
Good - B/B- Very listenable and enjoyable, minor distortion or imperfections associated with live recordings
Average - C+/C/C- - Middle of the road live recording, often with noticeable crowd or tape noise, but listenable
Fair - D+/D/D- - Significant flaws in the recording that distract the listener from the performance, external noise
Poor - F Extremely rough recording, usually not worth listening to

How can I quickly and easily listen to FLAC or SHN files?

In Windows: Download and install foobar2000, a multi-format audio player, and, to add SHN compatibility, the Shorten Decoder, available on the same site under the Components section. foobar2000 offers a quick and easy listening experience - just drag and drop your files into the program and you are ready to listen. WinAmp, another multi-format audio player, will also play both FLAC and SHN files. You will then need to install the FLAC FrontEnd Plugin and/or the ShnAmp Shorten Plugin. After installing these programs, double clicking your files will open and play them.

On a Macintosh: Download and install Cog, an excellent multi-format audio player. Cog offers a quick and easy listening experience - just drag and drop your files into Cog and and you are ready to listen. If you want to specifically listen to FLAC files in iTunes, use Fluke. Instructions are included on the linked site.

How do I convert FLAC or SHN files to MP3 or other formats for personal usage?

In Windows: Download and install Trader's Little Helper, a multi-format audio encoder and converter with drag and drop functionality. If you specifically want to use foobar2000 to convert FLAC to MP3, refer to this guide.

On a Macintosh: Download and install X Lossless Decoder (XLD). It offers easy and fast drag and drop conversions from FLAC and SHN to MP3, WAV, and a host of other formats. Simple instructions are included in the "Read Me" file with the program download.

What are The Flaming Lips' policies on taping and sharing shows?

The Flaming Lips' position on taping and sharing shows is that they are okay with it, but do not want to facilitate it themselves. People can record their performance so long as venue rules permit it, and sharing complete live shows has been allowed for years on the various official Flaming Lips website forums and in other well known locations like the Flaming Lips Hub.

"Our attitude has always been - you can tape all you want - but we don't want to be involved. In other words, we'll tell the clubs we're ok with it, but we don't have the time to go into any special effort to hook you up to the soundboard or anything. Some clubs have policies of not allowing tapers, because they tape the shows and try to sell them to the bands. We can't override that - it's usually in the contract for the show that we're not even allowed to tape - that's why we don't put too much effort into it. Our show is so difficult to make happen in the first place that we have to put all of our energy into that!"

- Scott D. Booker on the Flaming Lips live taping policy (May 15, 2002)
*Retrieved from The Flaming Lips Trading Post

We only offer audio downloads from sources that are not commercially available. In the case of radio sessions, oftentimes a few of those tracks are repackaged as B-Sides; if someone recorded the FM broadcast, we offer this alternate source of the complete show for download, including the interview segments, and it is generally lower quality than the commercial release, but we do not allow rips of the official releases.

These are big files, how long should my downloads take?

Most of the downloads we offer are in the hundreds of megabytes, so they are significantly larger than an average mp3 conversion of a show. When testing the downloads, we averaged approximately 1 minute per 10 megabytes, and download speeds at least over 100kb per second. A 750mb show (this is near the largest end of our download size spectrum) would take at least 75 minutes to download with a high speed internet connection. We feel that this is a good speed for full quality static downloads.

If you have any questions not addressed in this FAQ, please contact us.