confused on audio file formats

RW- The op stated that he was running Mac and iTunes. Foobar does not run on Mac, and in another thread recently Jax2 suggested FLAC for Mac as well. I am questioning that logic.

I am not sure what restrictions you are taking issue with. DRM or the fact that you cannot port stuff downloaded from iTunes. Neither should be an issue. An audiophile has no business buying mp3s, and DRM is the law.

Speaking of rope and hogtied, Windoz comes to mind faster than OSx. A stronger, more robust os with $30 updates vs the tiered licensing and $100 updates for windows. I run both btw...

Ahh .. I see (says the blind man) ..!
This makes more sense. I had thought that Apple Lossless was an uncompressed format.

I am looking into a Squeezebox Touch. Does a SB care if it's AIFF or Apple Lossless file?

I think the squeeze box likes FLAC to make matters more confusing. Jax2 uses SB IIRC. There are Mac players that do use FLAC. I use iTunes as a database only for the player AyreWave. I have no empirical evidence, but I question wireless transmission for listening. I use Firewire.

ALAC and FLAC compress about 40%.

SqueezeCenter supports both AIFF and Apple Lossless.

4est - As I said on the other thread, I uses MAXX to rip and Squeezeserver to catalogue and play. I started out many years ago using iTunes and still store most of my library in iTunes. I don't use iTunes to manage FLAC files. I did not suggest that either here, nor in the other thread. I made it very clear here that if the OP were using iTunes I'd suggest using AIFF. I agree with your here, as I did in the other thread: Stay away from WAV as it's more trouble than it's worth. FLAC is cross-platform, cross-device and very easy to batch convert. That is why I use it. Clear? I prefer Squeeze server because their streaming hardware (Touch and Squeezebox) are superior to the Apple alternatives (AE, Apple TV). That's my personal preference. I thought the SACD bit was interesting on face value because it refers to yet another more resolving digital format. I agree also with your suggestion to simply try the various options yourself and see what works best for you. I'd suggest that with anything in this hobby. Suggestions here or elsewhere are simply a point of departure (or not).