Bah - The sound quality of SoundCloud, I'm not sure of what it is, but for me, it's just simply a non-issue. It sounds fine to me. If you tag a file as downloadable and the user goes for it - and your original upload file was a *.flac, that's exactly what they'll get. They can encode the damn thing any way they please. 

Thanks everyone for all the information and suggestions.
Appreciate it.
 
I did set up a SoundCloud account and uploaded the first tune.
https://soundcloud.com/austeredreams/my-heart-said-no-instrumental
 

sharke
"I believe Soundcloud only streams at 128kbps, MP3 encoding."

 
Yeah, it sounds like it. Not terrible but certainly doesn't improve things any.
Are there any techniques for improving the sound of a 128kbps MP3 render?
I mean other than avoiding it.
 
In going forward - I have set up a YouTube channel (nothing there yet) and will also check out SoundClick.
 
Peace,
...Steven
 
 

Checking out SoundClick - not exactly lovin' it.
 
While SoundClick has some decent options - you can sell your tunes directly on SoundClick, for paid accounts you can create a custom your home page, etc..
The other factors I'm running into are just pushing it out of my comfort zone...
 
There's a 10k limit on size of uploaded song files, they re-rendered my uploaded MP3 to ***160kbps (their info) and the stereo is now weird (the I don't want people to hear this mix kind of weird), and their privacy options are wonky - too global, no detail control. Out of the 8 SoundClick artists I randomly checked, the profile page on 3 said they were 8 years old (one 8 year old had a white beard and another had cleavage that you could could loose a wallet in) - once you touch the birthday setting you can't turn it off and 2005 is the latest choice available.  
***Maybe I should consider myself lucky SoundClick's documentation says that free accounts are limited to 128kbps, with paid it can go upto 320.
 
And lastly, at least to me, SoundClick's web interface feels way dated.  Even their player reminds me of RealAudio stuff from XP days.
 
 
If I was starting out with a paid account SoundClick's high fidelity and other options might be a deciding factor, but for the free accounts SoundCloud is so much more positive an experience and much less of a hassle.
 
..Steven 
 

The Sound quality on SoundCloud is well and truly horrible IMO (worse than "regular" 160kbps mp3 to my ears). I can't believe that the dominant audio file sharing community on Web 2.0 can't offer something better in this day and age.

I switched from Soundcloud to Bandcamp. Way better streaming quality and it was easy to set up. Mobile support is pretty good as well, much better than Soundclick, though I still use that as well.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

TheSteven
Thanks everyone for all the information and suggestions.
Appreciate it.
 
I did set up a SoundCloud account and uploaded the first tune.
https://soundcloud.com/austeredreams/my-heart-said-no-instrumental
 

sharke
"I believe Soundcloud only streams at 128kbps, MP3 encoding."

 
Yeah, it sounds like it. Not terrible but certainly doesn't improve things any.
Are there any techniques for improving the sound of a 128kbps MP3 render?
I mean other than avoiding it.
 
In going forward - I have set up a YouTube channel (nothing there yet) and will also check out SoundClick.
 
Peace,
...Steven
 
 

Bandcamp is another good option although I don't use it as much as I used to. Soundcloud is great for finding likeminded musicians for collabs. Also good for feedback and critique.

Bandcamp is great. Stereokiller streams at 320 too. http://www.stereokiller.com/