[Audioarchivist]

Originally Posted by GRC

Would the OP call this an 'unnecessary' CDR step?

"Recording Lineage
Sony Mono Cassette Recorder with built-in mic -> Cassette(M)

Playback Lineage
Cassette(M) -> Alesis Masterlink @ 44.1kHz, 16-bit (track splits, level adjustment, fades) -> CDR -> EAC to wav, TLH to flac "

???

I'm not a mod (and I don't even play one on T.V., either!) but I'd say it depends on a few mitigating circumstances...
I know in my own experience that a few of my earliest transfers of my own master tapes were done on a borrowed computer, and the original data of the master .wav files was deleted by the computer's owner. All I have of those transfers are "master" audio CD-r's, and I've shared some of those here.
Perfectly acceptable.
I would say if a recording is a master and it's coming from a taper as an audio CD-r that it is not only "legal" lineage, but that it might be necessary for the reason above (legacy master transfer to CD-r) or the tapers that transfer straight to a standalone CD burner.
Now, if this master transfer you're talking about was made yesterday, and they're deliberately burning to CD-r and re-extracting the files right next to the original .wav files and they still have access to those original non-CD-r'd files, then they're just being dumb to burn the files to audio CD-r's for no reason...
So, more details of the circumstances of how and why those files are coming from CD-r can make them good to go. What kind of timeline are we talking about between the tape to CD-r transfer and the EAC extraction? Is there any chance to get the master .wav files pre-CD-r? Does the taper / trader have the necessary knowledge to do this right, or do we have to take what we can get from them because they don't know how to do it any other way and they'll stop sharing with you / us if we make them change?