The technical string refers to a high-fidelity digital preservation of Pink Floyd's sixth studio album. It represents a 2021 digital "rip" of the 1988 Japanese CD pressing, created using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and encoded in the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) . The Evolution of Meddle (1971–1988)
The "Free Lossless Audio Codec," a file format that compresses audio without losing any data quality. pink floyd meddle 1971 1988 eac flacoa 2021
| Version | Characteristics | |--------|----------------| | 1971 Vinyl | Original analog master, warm but can have surface noise. | | 1988 CD (this one) | Early digital transfer, sometimes lower volume but less dynamic range compression than later remasters. | | 1992 "Shine On" CD | Slightly brighter, some say harsher. | | 2011 Discovery remaster | More compressed, louder, but cleaned up noise. | | 2016 Pink Floyd "Early Years" box | New transfers, but Meddle only partially included. | "Pink Floyd Meddle 1971 1988 EAC FLAC 2021"
It preserves the natural tape hiss of the 1971 recordings, which many feel is essential to the "organic" feel of the album. | | 2011 Discovery remaster | More compressed,
In the sprawling discography of Pink Floyd, Meddle (1971) often plays the role of the forgotten hinge—the album that swings between the psychedelic whimsy of Atom Heart Mother and the monolithic thematic rock of The Dark Side of the Moon . For the casual listener, it’s “the one with ‘Echoes.’” But for the dedicated audiophile and the digital archivist, Meddle is a battlefield. It is a record plagued by decades of mediocre pressings, variable dynamic range compression, and a digital history that has frustrated purists.