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People with a good sense of hearing often cringe when forced to listen to MP3-compressed music files, and this is understandable: MP3 is a lossy compression method. Converting an audio file to MP3 format can save up to 90 percent disk space, but it will affect the quality. Although the MP3 format theoretically only loses sound components that are inaudible to the human ear, you might still miss them if you listen carefully.

Of course, there are many alternatives to MP3. AAC and Vorbis files save more disk space while giving you the same or superior audio quality. Vorbis has the additional advantage, compared with MP3 and AAC, of being patent free. Today, many portable audio players support the Vorbis file format. The Xiph.org foundation [1], which developed the Vorbis format, also has a lossy compression method for voice recordings dubbed Speex. If you prefer to avoid quality loss of any kind, a loss-free compression approach like Flac will fit the bill perfectly.

Audio formats thus exist for almost any application you can imagine. But choosing from one of these formats can pose a problem for users. How do you convert your painstakingly digitized CD collection to the right format?

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