Best format for CD archiving...

[Stadler]

I just bought a large NAS (network-attached storage) and want to transfer my CDs to it in lossless format.  What's the best format?  flac? wav? aiff? 128kbsp mp3? (Kidding about that last).  I don't care about space, I just want CD quality, in case I ever decide to set up an in-home streaming set up.   

[faizoff]

I personally don't have know if it matters which one of those loseless formats you store. The bigger question is what player will you be using for playback and will that player support the format you choose. I've used FLAC and WAV and really don't hear any difference so those should be fine. I guess another factor is what software you'll be using for the transfer of CDs to the loseless format. I personally use EAC to rip CDs which does them in WAV be default. I'm quite sure you can use a plugin to utilize any format but I don't bother. EAC also can tag music 99% of the time, I've had issues with some one off records, cam search cover and save it to the tag. It also allows you to format the naming style of the file. You configure it to your liking. I like to name the  like so "01 - Track One.wav"

I've set mine up many years ago and haven't touched it since and continue to use it the same way.

[ChuckSteak]

If it is lossless it doesn't make a difference if it is wav, flac, ape, shn, etc, as far as I know.

[Bolsters]

Uncompressed formats such as WAV and AIFF are redundant for your purposes. Lossless compression formats like FLAC and ALAC are identical in sound quality (hence why they are referred to as "lossless" formats; no loss in sound quality compared to the original uncompressed source). FLAC and ALAC files will be smaller though and have support for tags.

There's not really any appreciable difference between FLAC and ALAC, which one you go with will depend upon whether it is supported by the software/hardware you will be using to use to listen to them. FLAC has more widespread support because it's free, but if you use iTunes or certain Apple devices, you will be forced to go with ALAC as they choose not to support FLAC.

[Nick]

If you want the quickest way you'll just keep them as WAVs, assuming space is truly 0 issue.

Encoding to FLAC will take a slight margin longer and save a ton of space, and would be my recommendation.

If you're going to encode using any format other than FLAC would be rather silly.

[Prog Snob]

Yeah, what Nick said.

[rumborak]

Encoding to FLAC will take a slight margin longer and save a ton of space, and would be my recommendation.

A "ton" should be put in modifiers though I would say. Even the latest FLAC only achieves something like 40% reduction. That's a far cry from what lossy formats can achieve.

[seasonsinthesky]

If you use iTunes, use ALAC.

If you use anything else, use FLAC.

[Nick]

Encoding to FLAC will take a slight margin longer and save a ton of space, and would be my recommendation.

A "ton" should be put in modifiers though I would say. Even the latest FLAC only achieves something like 40% reduction. That's a far cry from what lossy formats can achieve.

I don't see what you're getting at. A full album is 700MBs, so let's say an average disc is 500MBs. That's 200MBs saved per disc, or 20GBs over 100 albums. For someone like myself who has over 2000 CDs that will end up being 400GBs saved.

[ytserush]

When I get to that point, I'm doing WAVs