Used Rega Planet or Apollo vs. affordable PC audio

My litmus test is exactly the same. Ill be honest- I cant hear any meaningful difference between 256k AAC and lossless but I do rip to ALAC because who knows what playback technology might offer better resolution in the future. However, my reservations on buying 256k aac from iTunes are very few these days. I love the 24bit stuff and find it far superior to anything 16 bit but the catalog just isn't there yet.

In regards to a drive failing- I think it is easier to implement a disaster recovery solution that keep all the CDs around. A second hard drive or even RAID setup with some inexpensive software is easily had. Keep a 3rd HD that is updated occaisonally at a friends place if you really want to get crazy.

I think that PC audio is the best thing to happen to audiophiles in a long while- maybe even ever.

think catastrophic flood or lightning storm that sends electrical surge spikes thru anything and everything plugged into a wall. Its happened to my sister and a friend of mine (separate occasions). I think having the CD is the ultimate back-up, but I still do have a ton of download-based 128 and 256 .mp3's files in my library. I wish I could get them upgraded, but its not possible. I can definitely tell the diff between 128, 256, and lossless, when played in sequence, but picking them out in a blind test - haven't tried yet.

A fire would also wipe everything out too.

MP3 is a different story- although 256k mp3 is getting pretty transparent but aac is substantially better and almost completely transparent @ 256k imo.

Fire BAD!

I have everything at 320 mp3, chose mp3 because most newer cd changers can read it. dunno if they can read 320 kbps tho! I don't think as many changers can read .m4a (.aac), have you burned your .aac files to a disk and played it in a player? Doesn't matter for me until I get something new, my Yami changer is from 1993, so I am iPod based until I figure something out.