[Roseval]

[size=10pt]If you do have the original source, rip to a lossless format.[/size]
[size=10pt]You can always convert or transcode to any other format later.[/size]
[size=10pt]If you rip to a lossy format e.g. MP3 and later convert this to another lossy format e.g. AAC, you get the cumulative artifacts of both lossy compressions (generation loss).[/size]
 
[size=10pt]I prefer FLAC[/size]
[size=10pt]Lossless[/size]
[size=10pt]Excellent tagging support[/size]
[size=10pt]A build-in checksum allowing to detect data corruption  [/size]
 

 

[Parall3l]

I use just about anything lossless. Mp3 compressions kill resonance according to my IT teacher, although that doesn't seem to be a problem with anything above 200kbps, I stick to lossless anyways.

 

[MattTCG]

I use foobar to rip to flac...

 

[J.Pocalypse]

I've altered my methods.
 
CD > ( 0% compressed ) FLAC ( via dBpoweramp CD Ripper ), stored to external HDD for archiving.
FLAC's converted to ALAC for iPod/computer ( Foobar2K w/ WASAPI with headphones, iTunes with crappy 2.1 ) listening.

 

[ChipnDalebowl]

FLAC for the computer

MP3 -V4 for the Walkman portable (anything higher makes little difference on the road)

 

[jenneth]

CD to FLAC (via EAC) with two backups.

 

[Holleyman]

Using Sound Juicer (Mint 10) to convert to FLAC from CD. 
Just ordered a Cowon J3 for the drag and drop ability as well as FLAC support.  My iPod touch will be retired from music shortly after I get the new player.
 
Then it will be the J3 playing lossless, MapleTree Ear+ HD amp and Grado GS1000is.  Looking forward to hearing that combo!

 

[morris minor]

CD to FLAC using Max for OS X.

 

[kenammo]

CD to FLAC via EAC for me.  As mentioned above, hard drive space is cheap and I want a lossless archive (with backups) of all my music.  I can then convert those files to any other lossy format for a portable device if I choose, later on.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Always Flac.

 

[estreeter]

Thats the beauty of having a DAP like the T51 - FLAC all the way. I've messed around with ALAC on various iDevices - never going back, jack - FLAC is where its at. 

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

Hi SuperEddzz,
 
I use DBpoweramp CD Ripper's Multi Encoder feature to extract audio from my CDs into FLAC, Aiff, MP3, and ALAC.  I am considering to scale it down to just FLAC and ALAC.   I store the files on a local 2 TB disk on my desktop PC where they go into different folders:
 
Q:\Audio
  |-00-flac\
  |      |-Art of Noise, The\
  |             |-The Seduction of Claude Debussy
  |                  |-01 - Art of Noise, The - The Seduction of Claude Debussy - Il Pleure (At the Turn of the Century).flac
  |                  |-02 - Art of Noise, The - The Seduction of Claude Debussy - Born on a Sunday.flac
  |                  | ... and so on... 
  |
  |-01-aiff\
  |-02-mp3\
  |-03-alac\
  
As you are using iTunes I would recommend extracting your audio to ALAC because it is the best quality and uses some compression to save on disk capacity, it stores the artist / song information, and iTunes can import it.  It is best to keep a copy that is highest quality so then you can always convert it to a more space efficient format as needed, as Pekingduck pointed out.  
 
Be sure to start your conversion process from CDs as converting form MP3s to a ALAC won't provide in any benifits.... you'll just use more storage capacity on your disk.  (as pointed out by skamp .. but I felt it was worth repeating)
 
 
 
 

Very nice, I'm the same way I keep everything Organized, although I like to Rip as .Flac and if I can I like 320k .mp3... I'm also not a fan of any Apple formats seeing as they are just that... apple exclusive -.-
 

 

[astrallite]

16,934kbps DSD
 

 

 

[tyrael]

Flac for computer
Mp3 320kbps for portable use

 

[BLACKENEDPLAGUE]

Rip CD's into FLAC image files using Exact Audio Copy for archive and Foobar2k use
 
Convert to AIFF using DbPoweramp for portable