Whats the best format to encode music in today?

[ld114]

I encode my CDs using flac to an external hdd, then use "sound_converter" to deliver listening formats (eg MP3 to use with ipods, usb sticks, or occasionally Ogg for a laptop). I arrived at this method after trying to convert ogg to mp3 (which delivered poor results) and I think it gives me good flexibility, for now and the future. I can also listen in flac itself of course.

[Lars Noodén]

Another vote for flac, here. It's lossless and can contain metadata. It's also possible to convert to other formats, if needed. It's not possible to do that from lossy formats. I find the sound quality of MP3 to be terrible, and avoid it. Ogg Vorbis is a good compromise format for size and quality.

[Cheesemill]

+1 for FLAC

All my music is purchased as physical CD's which I then rip into FLACs.

I also have mp3fs set up on my machine to provide a virtual mp3 directory. This is shared across the network for any devices that cant do FLAC and also used for copy/pasting music to my portable devices.

[Spike-X]

Another vote for flac, here. It's lossless and can contain metadata. It's also possible to convert to other formats, if needed. It's not possible to do that from lossy formats.

It is possible, but should be avoided unless you hate your ears.

[Artemis3]

Go lossless, flac is the most supported on devices.

It is not smart to use lossy with high bitrates, you will get both big files and artifacts.

If you have an old mp3 player, just stick to the -V 2 setting using lame. Throwing more bitrate won't make mp3's sound better.

Apple has their own lossless format (alac) if you need.

[mamamia88]

I use mp3 256 kbps good enough for me. I have most of it on flax on an external HD but honestly never touch it. I'd rather spend my time listening tonmy music than fiddling with equalizers etc nowadays.

[Bandit]

Seems a lot of users prefer Flac and for good reasons.

[MadmanRB]

For me I am sticking to MP3, as my current MP3 player only supports, you guessed it...
MP3's

[whatthefunk]

I use mp3 256 kbps good enough for me. I have most of it on flax on an external HD but honestly never touch it. I'd rather spend my time listening tonmy music than fiddling with equalizers etc nowadays.

Ive never touched an equalizer. Not quite sure what that has to do with flac....

[Bandit]

Ive never touched an equalizer. Not quite sure what that has to do with flac....

I dont either, but speaking of EQ. Even on my iPods and other media players I always find myself turning them off after trying them. None of them seem to work like a good car audio EQ.