Artist: Barbra Streisand
Title: The Ultimate Collection
Release Year: 2010
Label: Columbia Records / Sony Music
Format: 2 × CD, Compilation
Catalog Numbers (varies by region): 88697750322, 88697750322-2, etc.
Background:
Released to coincide with Streisand’s 2010 European tour (her first in decades), this collection spans her career from the 1960s to 2009. It includes hits, duets, and two newly recorded tracks at the time: “We Are the World” (demo) and a live recording of “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.”
While FLAC is a codec, the music itself remains copyrighted. In most countries, downloading or sharing this album without permission infringes copyright. Ripping your own CD for personal use is generally legal (varies by country – e.g., UK allows private copying, Germany allows for personal use).
If you love the album, support the artist (and future releases) by purchasing it legally from Qobuz, 7digital, or a used CD. Barbra Streisand - The Ultimate Collection -2010- flac
While many search results will point to blogs or torrents, beware. Audio files from unauthorized sources are often:
Always look for a "Spectrogram" or "Spek" analysis if downloading from unverified forums. A true FLAC of this 2010 CD will show frequency response flat up to 22.05kHz.
Even 15 years after its release, The Ultimate Collection (2010) has not been dethroned. Sony has since released The Essential Barbra Streisand (updated versions) and Partners (duets), but neither offers the same cohesive narrative of her solo career as this 2010 compilation. Unethical/Piracy Sources (not recommended)
Furthermore, physical CD sales have declined, making the FLAC version the archival standard. If you store this album in FLAC on a Plex server or a portable DAP (Digital Audio Player), you are future-proofing your music library for the next generation of lossless audio codecs.
The most reliable way to ensure you have a perfect FLAC copy is to buy the physical 2010 Ultimate Collection CD (available used or via Amazon marketplace) and rip it yourself using software like EAC (Exact Audio Copy) or dBpoweramp. This guarantees the log file proves a 100% perfect rip.
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) preserves CD-quality audio without compression artifacts. For this release: physical CD sales have declined
| Parameter | Value | |-----------|-------| | Bit depth | 16-bit | | Sample rate | 44.1 kHz | | Channels | 2 (stereo) | | Bitrate (average) | ~700–1000 kbps (variable) | | File size (2 CDs) | ~600–700 MB total |
Expected quality:
True FLAC should show a frequency spectrum reaching 22.05 kHz (Nyquist for 44.1 kHz) with no high-frequency cutoffs (which would indicate lossy-to-lossless transcoding). Use Spek or Audacity to verify.