Downloading & Converting Music


Tell me if I understand this correctly. MP3's have information that cannot be retrieved if converted to WAV or FLAC format. So, it is better to rip the songs off CD than download the music since most downloads are in MP3 format (except the high quality sites like hdtrack)I use a PC. Do any sites allow download in lossless format?
128x128maxdpnxcom
the cheapest way is a-bit politically incorrect, but there are tons of even hard to find choices in thepiratebay.se for free.
I tend to purchase all my cds used from Amazon then rip them to FLAC using EAC. As mentioned by rlwainwright above, buying a CD used is still cheaper in most cases than buying the digital only copy from Amazon.

By the way, I have about 6000 cds that are mostly ripped to MP3 (VBR). I know I know...when I started to rip them years ago, I didnt know any better. Now I only rip to FLAC and have been slowing re-ripping all my cds.
Thanks for all your help. I recently purchased some CDs from Amazon and they put all the songs (including past purchases) in MP3 format in your cloud.
I agree .wav sounds better, but what can you do about metadata..mainly album cover and tracks in order
Steve - I'm surprised about highdeftapetransfers.com. It sounds like they are just ripping commercial reel to reel recordings to digital - one step farther away from the masters. Why would someone buy that rather than getting closer to the masters?