Converting .flac audio files to a CD burnable format, to reburn on Mac and Windows
 

I have a bunch of albums that I ripped to flac format, for archive purposes. But I would also like to convert & save these albums in .flac format to a format that I can burn to a blank disc in either mac osx or windows that can play on any cd player.

right now, I am on a mac, using roxio toast titanium 10, using its audio cd format, & I choose save as a disc image to burn later on, I notice it creates .Sd2f files. Is this universal? are there both windows & mac apps that can burn this to a blank cd to play on a cd player?

In roxio toast, there is also an option to burn or save as .bin & .cue files, are these more universal? when I tired saving a .flac album in this format, roxio created a .bin, .cue & a .cdt files for the album, which of these would I burn to a blank disc to play in a cd player?

FLAC is a good audio format. Better than over-compressed MP3, similar to MP3 with high bitrates (256kbps or more).

Don't use the .sd2f files. That's the Sound Designer II audio file format, and it only works with modern versions of Roxio Toast. You can't burn them in other programs in Windows, Linux or even on a Mac.

Use the bin/cue file pairs.

Notes on bin/cue: It's important that you keep both files (BIN + CUE). The BIN file holds the data, while the CUE file holds the track data needed to burn a new disc. It's similar to MDS files with ISO, for DVD+R DL, using DVD Decrypter or ImgBurn on Windows. The layer break data is in the MDS. (Note that the analogy only goes so far; ImgBurn can create a new layer break, while there's no good way to re-create a lost CUE file.)

The bin/cue is pretty universal, similar to ISO.
(Note that you cannot create an ISO from an audio CD, as ISO cannot hold multiple tracks.)

Nero, ImgBurn, CDBurnerXP, InfraRecorder -- all of the Windows apps should be able to burn an audio CD from the bin/cue set.

On Mac, I prefer to create bin/cue with LiquidCD (freeware). I've attached it.

Thanks for the link, I installed it & tried to do an audio CD from the options along the top & I got unhandled file format underneath each of the tracks in .flac format. So should I use the data cd option from the top?

So I then chose data cd, it seemed to load the album, & I chose create cue/bin disc image. What file system should I choose? there is mac + pc, mac only, udf, ISO 9660-2 & a custom option, which of these would be the most compatible for cd players & mac & pc?

update; I just converted an album using the data cd option making a cue bin file with mac + pc file system. I notice this program just made a cue & bin file, where as roxio created a .cdt file in addition to the cue & bin files, what is the cdt? in finder on my mac it shows up with a corel draw template icon.

what about CD text options? do I need those? will cue/bin images created with LiquidCD include some info like at least a song title or track number so I can see it on a cd player? will liquid cd make the cue/bin files from the flac album just like it is? or like the original cd? I am not after fancy effects or pauses fade in etc, I want these cue bin files to be like the original cd.

I don't often use FLAC. I generally buy MP3 from Amazon.com, and then burn those to CD-Audio format. I created high bitrate MP3 of my CDs probably 10 years ago, as well as uncompressed WAV versions for many albums I re-worked. I just tonight, when making the last post, tested LiquidCD with an AAC file (multiplexed into an MP4, nonetheless!) and it worked fine. I just assumed it would work with FLAC. (And it still may, meaning your system isn't setup correctly. I don't know. This weekend, some of the network is down for maintenance, including all of the audio I generally listen to at work, so you'd have to upload a FLAC file to test with, if you wanted me to try a FLAC here. )

You do NOT want to create a data CD. That's not an audio CD. It won't play in a CD player.

A data CD is just data, files meant for use only on computers.

The .cdt file is just CD-Text, and there's no reason to use it. I've never wasted time with CD-Text, because I don't much care if the "ID aware" stereo or software show the song name on the stereo LCD or software screen. I'll know what I'm listening to as soon as I hear it. Plus I'll be driving in a car, and don't need to be reading. Or I'll be at the computer, and the filename will be obvious. I know some people "need" this feature, and I wish them well. For me, it's a waste of time.

If Roxio Toast gives the option to make bin/cue from an AudioCD template, do that. :)

I notice roxio toast has all the options for effects like crossfade pauses etc, & it seems to use a default of a fade in for the 1st song & then a 2 second pause for all the other songs on an album, should I use the defaults?

What I ant is just an exact copy in cue/bin files of the original flac album/like the original album, I dont want any adjustments or effects. What options would use in roxio toast audio cd function to get this?

If I choose to use the cd text option in roxio toast, it has options for applying a title & artist to the text & then it has an apply to all button, should I click apply to all when I use any cd text? or will roxio automatically do this?

The 2-second gap is the "red book" spec requirement for CD audio. Without the gap, audio may be clipped by players. I remember many years ago, around 1996, a friend copied a CD for me. Each song was missing the last 2 seconds because his burning software was not compliant. I didn't even get past the 2nd song, and the disc was in the trash. Ruined music for free? No thanks.

If the software defaults to a fade, and you don't want a fade, then don't use the defaults. :)

If Roxio is willing to automatically create CD-Text, and it's somehow correct information -- sure, go for it. Can't hurt. Of course, I doubt that's the case. I guess it depends on whether that information is embedded in the FLAC files, and Foxio is somehow able to intelligently translate it to CD-Text.

Would it be better & simpler if I did not mess with CD text? are fades a standard/requirement like 2 second pauses? do most original albums have fades? if I disable fades in Roxio, & the flac albums have a fades from the original cd, will those still be there? what I mean is I don't want Roxio to place additional effects like fades on top of what was from the original cd in the flac files.

Simpler? For sure. It's one reason I don't mess with CD-Text options.

Fades are not standard, not required, no.

I'd say most songs have fades at the end, yes. Few end on hard notes -- mostly classical music.
A lot of songs don't really "fade" as much as they just trail off and end.
I'm thinking of quite a few songs in my head, and most of them fade or trail off.

So if most songs have their own fade off, I should set roxios fades to none, as I dont want additional effects, just want to keep everything as close as possible to the original album in flac.

Just as you state.

None. :)

I think if text is added to CD, there has to be a minimum silence amount inserted between tracks.
At least that is the way it is with Imgburn, it will do cd text, I did that one time
following a guide but I had to figure out how to do it as the guide wasn't quite complete.
CD Text can be done but I wonder if the time to do it is worth it.