How to Spot Fake Lossless Music

I'm sure that if you had downloaded and stored lossless file in your music library you would have thought that they are indeed lossless. 

Sadly but true, this kind of misconception is false as there are chances that some of those music files that you had downloaded are 'fake' lossless. 

Just some general FAQ's before we proceed with the tutorial.

How 'fake' lossless music is created

So there is this 'fake' lossless file, but how are they created? The answer is simple, which is by the means of upscalling a lossy mp3 files (could be varies in bitrate, even 128 kbps!). However, when played back using media player it will labelled as lossless or havinga  bitrate highter than 320 kbps, which is the highest bitrate for mp3. 

Why upload 'fake' lossless music

This might be done for the purpose of getting people to download it or generate high visitor counts for the site that shared these. 

Where are these 'fake' lossless music can be found?

It varies. But they can be mostly found from forum sharing site, e.g. vnsharing.net or VeryCD.

How to early spot true or fake lossless music

In most, but not all cases of a true lossless music, the uploader will include the EAC (Exact Audio Copy) log file that include additional AccurateRip information, if the album is in the AccurateRip database. Missing this log file doesn't necessary means that the album is fake lossless though.

How to spot 'fake' lossless music

Since the perception of music hearing is subjective and varies from people to people. In times it might be hard to actually hear the difference between a lossy or lossless music, even for those with highly trained ears. This happens because of the improvement that had progressed in the lossy music codec and the high transparency rate that can be achieved. 

An alternative would be using expensive and exotic audio equipment, including speakers, DAC (Digital Analog Converter), pre-amplifier, amplifier, etc.). This coupled with a high trained ears of an audiophile will surely spot the difference instantly. But seriously, how many of us can actually afford those kind of equipments.

And so comes the final solution, which is by the means of using software. If you are a foobar media player user, which is very popular among audiophiles), you could try out the following tools, fooaucdtect. 

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Nintendo 3DS mini product review

What's up guys. Here's my first product review just to kill some free time of mine. Frankly speaking, I had intended to do product review since I started this blog but alas, I just couldn't find the proper digital camera, experience, and time to do it.

After long time of hesitation I finally get ahand of Nintendo latest portable gaming console, the Nintendo 3DS. At first I had been juggling between PS Vita and 3DS. So what make me choose 3DS over the PS Vita? For me, the primary factor in choosing a console is the games library. As PS Vita is just launched in JP and HK few weeks ago, the game library is still in its infancy and the current game title is countable by fingers! Even the future release games list doesn't appeal much (to me at least), with the exception of probably Persona 4 and Disgaea. For 3DS, a list of promising titles had been announced, in development, and in my wish list. To name a few, Harvest Moon, Etrian Odyssey, Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Resident Evil, Kirby, and Phoenix Wright.

Another issue is the pricing, as of now the price is a bit pricy and only after it is released in MY/SG can we expect to see a price drop. But for the time being, purchasing it doesn't seemed to be a wise choice, not if I had a limited budget at hand. 3DS, on the other hand, had seen a price drop and it had helped Nintendo to rise up the sales target once again. Previously, many had speculated that the sales number for 3DS is not so promising and will never compete against the sales record of PSP. But look at the chart now, it is without a doubt that 3DS leads the number among other portable handheld gaming device. Only time will tell whether PS Vita will triumph over 3DS.

Another factor that leads me to choose 3DS over PS Vita is the 3D effect. As you might probably aware of, a majority of people had said that 3D is just a hype of the moment while some are still standing on the fence, hesitating. Yea one can live without 3D but 3D will enhance the gameplay even more.

Hardware spec for PS Vita is definitely overpowered, with 4 cores (only 3 cores are usable), touch front and back screen, dual analog control, and the massive 5 inch OLED screen, what's not to like. But at the end of the day, it's the games that matters, not the hardware. Given the most powerful handheld device in the world, if there are no popular games to unleash its potential, what good will it be?

Speculations had it that 3DS Lite might be announced in E3 but I highly doubt so as it took 18 months for DS Lite to emerged and another 12 months for DSi. It is CNY and I thought why not having a 3DS to spur the moment for this festive season.

Enough talk. My 3DS package consist of crystal case by FunBox, Hori Screen Protector, Acekard 2i and a 3DS game, Super Mario 3D Land! The console is Flare Red color and it is MY/SG set, which is also a US set.

More pictures after the break.

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