File Formats - wav, mp3 etc

The problems with MP3 are twofold. First, it is a lossy format, meaning that even though the music may sound fine you can never get back the original version from an MP3. Makes it impractical as an archival format. Second, it's patented and proprietary. That means if you want to write an application to encode MP3 files you have to pay the Fraunhofer Institute. A lot.

Word is that Ogg Vorbis came into being as a result of Fraunhofer increasing their fees. It is indeed open source and free. Unfortunately, it, too is a lossy format. And for a long time portable music players did not support it, although that's changing.

AAC is Apple's preferred format. Some say it sounds better than MP3 at a given file size. I don't know if that's true or not. It does support higher sample rates, but I don't think many vendors take advantage of that. Much of what you hear on the radio was probably distributed to the stations in AAC format, and pretty much all internet radio is AAC.

FLAC is the one that seems to get people most excited. It's a lossless format, it's free, and I believe it's open source too. Its only barrier to wider acceptance is that FLAC files are rather large - smaller than WAVs, but much larger than MP3s. Most newer portable players support FLAC files, and given the huge storage capacities available today it makes sense if you're buying music online to go with FLAC if that option is available. FLAC is also handy for exchanging files when collaborating online. And SONAR can export directly to FLAC.

The one that's missing from your list is Microsoft's WMA format. SONAR can do that one natively, too. If you rip a CD on a Windows machine, WMA is usually what you get. It's lossy, but comparable to MP3 in terms of file size and fidelity. And like MP3, it's possible using the highest quality settings to create a file that's virtually indistinguishable from the original.

I'm not Dave, but yes they do. A license fee, the cost is then passed on to the customer.

@bitflipper (got jumbled with my replies there..)

Free Lossless Audio Code - I just had a bit of a read in the Wiki.

I see what you're saying about it making a buzz - 50/60% compression and still able to reconstruct the original file. Very clever indeed.

Does this then mean that if someone downloads your music, they can listen to it exactly as the original in FLAC format? That could fit very well; as you say, with the expansion of bandwidth and storage.

Let me guess, that equation tells you how much juice the latest CPU's using at the same time as you're cooking two pies.   :)