Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
So ... since I have all my audiobooks and music backed up as mp3 files, should I format shift?
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Personally, I'd convert these files to FLAC for archiving.
For people who are going to flip and tell me that this is of no use, let me explain. If you convert an MP3, which is lossy, into another lossy format, the quality will degrade.
However, if you convert the MP3 into FLAC, the FLAC file will contain ALL the contents of the MP3-file.... and because FLAC is lossless, you can convert it to any other lossless format without degradation. You can also create lossy formats from that FLAC file, as often as you want, without degradation.
I've done this with some sound tracks I got with games at GOG.com. The newer games have them as FLAC files, but older ones as MP3 in 192-320 kbps quality (sometimes, because FLAC wasn't even available then). To make sure I get _at least_ the quality of the starting MP3 upon conversion in the future, I've converted those sound tracks to FLAC.