I did the same thing back in the day because of the expense of storage and because everyone on tech sites were saying that 128k was "CD quality". Though, I re-ripped everything to lossless when storage got cheaper.
To answer the OP's question. I would always archive to the computer in lossless because if they come out with some new terrific lossless format that is a quarter of the size you can always convert them without a loss.
For players and real world use. People on audiophile sites will typically tell you to go lossless for everything. Forums like Hydrogen Audio, where they strictly believe in ABX testing, will tell you:
"Non-lossy compression algorithms are assumed to be transparent: a non-lossy compression methodology should never introduce any artifact.
Transparency at the lowest possible bitrate also seems to be used as a measure of the quality or degree of sophistication and tuning of a lossy compression algorithm:
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Transparency
- MP3-encoded files are generally considered artifact-free at bitrates at/above 192kbps.
- Vorbis ogg files are supposedly artifact-free at bitrates at/above 160kbps.
- AAC- and Opus-encoded files, depending on the particular encoder implementation, are claimed to be artifact-free at lower bitrates than both Vorbis ogg and MP3."
I am not endorsing either opinion. However, you should pick your poison and then stop over analyzing every sound and enjoy the music.
(I believe Foobar has an ABX testing process you can use if you trust ABX tests. However, be aware that a lot of audiophiles don't trust ABX testing.)
Sure there is. There is the new lossy kid on the block, MQA, that 'Supposedly' will fix everything, even the US economy!
Wonder if DRM has any impact on record sales?
Can't wait to see ARM for vinyl ...
Enough of the acronyonism...write English! Please?
DRM = Digital Rights Management. It is meant as a method of protecting the product from piracy (for example, songs bought in the iTunes Store can only be played on devices that are approved to play them from that account (or something to that effect, or at least it was the case awhile ago).) Often this results in frustration and issues for the consumer. (i.e., I have a track I bought that I can no longer listen to because I do not have access to the email that the account was made with).
ARM = (I am guessing) Analog Rights Management, which is a term sKiZo made up or is otherwise using for a (to my knowledge) fictitious technology that would limit where a record could be played.
Incidentally, DRM hasn't been used by iTunes for many years, and they allow users who bought the older files to "upgrade" for free; I'm not aware of any popular current music source which restricts its playback to "licensed" devices.
Agree about car playback. My Ridgeline with Appleplay only supports MP3.About 5+ years ago ... when I ripped the bulk of my Car CDs (greatest hits, compilations, best of .. etc) to files ... I choose
128k AAC. Also use these files for my DAP. Figured eventually (after some time had passed) that I would re-rip to FLAC but never found it necessary for Car audio or DAPs.
I'm considering getting into FLAC, now that I can hear the limits of MP3. I store digital music in a Kindle Fire and am just starting to figure out if it can even handle FLAC at all.
On line some one shared that it would take approx 500GB to DL 128 CD's
Absolutely !!! Total control of source quality !!All the more reason to keep all of my music in-house, and not commercially sourced.
If you rip to flac then you have everything. You can transcode them to mp3, AAC or Ogg if you need to for the car or a DAP. If you start with lossy there is no going back to lossless. Storage is cheap.all flac and never goin bac