[limpidglitch]

   
Any suggestions or comments about how to sync WAV or other formats other than MP3 to an iPod would be most welcome!  Even if it means no iTunes (which I would actually prefer)!

 
WAV should sync as any other supported format, but you could also use AIFF.
Like WAV it was based on the older RIFF, and as such the fundamentals of the two formats are identical. Cross compatible with all major operating systems, including iOS and iPod, is it too.
The biggest boon with AIFF however, is the possibility to tag it like you would any other mp3 file. Even artwork embedding is supported.

Storing files as uncompressed LPCM files is inefficient, but it does make sense if compatibility is a big concern, or (rather unlikely) if processing power is severely limited.

 

[bigshot]

The larger the file size, the more a chance of file corruption.

 

[limpidglitch]

  The larger the file size, the more a chance of file corruption.

 
For archival you'd be wise to take some error correction precautions in any case.

 

[FiJAAS]

Just go with AIFF to get a true bit copy of your CD's that's non-compressed. Later on you can convert the AIFF files to compressed files such as ALAC or FLAC or to lossy formats like MP3 or AAC.

I recently was ripping my CD's to FLAC then found out that you cannot play them on the iPod Classic which I'm in the process of buying. So I ripped them to ALAC. I wasn't happy. The FLAC files were larger than ALAC and was confused as to why since the files were ripped from the same CD. Then I came across ripping CD's in AIFF to get a true bit copy of it. I have to tell you I heard a difference between AIFF vs. FLAC and ALAC. AIFF is true to the red book at 1411. I wouldn't recommend ripping your CD's to WAV since I researched that you will come across "tagging information" problems.

 

[limpidglitch]

What non-sense.
The L in FLAC and ALAC stands for lossless. It really shouldn't be this hard to fathom.

 

[bigshot]

I recently was ripping my CD's to FLAC then found out that you cannot play them on the iPod Classic which I'm in the process of buying. So I ripped them to ALAC. I wasn't happy. The FLAC files were larger than ALAC and was confused as to why since the files were ripped from the same CD.

 
Maybe it's because of the amount of time the processor used to convert the sound to lossless. More processor time = smaller file size. The sound is exactly the same.
 
You can't judge sound quality by file size. It isn't that simple.