[stardude]

"Is it worth it to go through the effort to convert my old audio tape collection to lossless digital formats?"

Absolutely not. This has already been done for almost every Dead show. Especially the soundboards, they were all digitized from the masters and liberated from the vault. Check out archive.org for the list of shows already available for streaming or downloads.

Digitizing tapes highlights all of the old analog flaws. It is a little tricky to properly de-hiss, remove artifacts, and re-track shows.

There is a tiny chance that you have a show that is otherwise not in circulation. Obviously this would be worthwhile. (we want McGoo's Pizza Parlour Mother McGee's Uptown Jug Champion / Dead shows from mid-1965!!)

When I have to digitize analog audio, I use whatever source > maudio 24/96 card > cooledit (now adobe audition). Cooledit pro is great for tracking shows and removing flaws, down at the sample level. I A>D at 16/44 and just keep it there for burning to cd.