[Fulio]

I do have a PC...

But still, as far as this issue goes it doesn't matter. As you have said, the APE files are the smallest... and that little bit adds up when you have hundreds or thousands of shows. I'm always running out of HD space.

People seem to neg on WMAL, but it sounds as good as anything else... it really does encode the fastest, and it makes smaller files than FLAC. (nearly as small as APE, and in rare instances smaller) Also, it has more hardware support than FLAC by far. (My cd walkman, mp3 player, and minidisc all support it.)

Just because a lot of people do something doesn't make it the best. SHN was the standard (still is for many), but it is obviously inferior. (Large files, No Tags, Slow Ripping, No Hardware Support) I used EAC, but switched back to DB because DB is better integrated into the Windows Shell. You just right click a file and bang you're converting. Hover your tooltip over a file, and you get the entire tag instantly... all without opening the program. And it has a great player as well.

I'm not a shill for DB. Really. Spoon is a great guy, open to suggestions for the program etc. But I have no interest in promoting the software.

I find that the files that are traded tend to have ridiculous filenames, no tags, and require seperate txt files for info. TAGS people! The entire info for the show can fit in the comments section of the tags. It winds up taking me 15 minutes to format a new show into my collection. I may be anal, but I like my collection sortable, tagged, and with thumbnail pictures on every folder.