Thanks, guys. I appreciate you at least chiming in on the topic.

I'm thinking that I will rip to FLAC rather than MP3. Slimserver will play FLAC format files, and there seem to be utilities to convert FLAC to MP3 when/if I need that for iPod purposes. It will certainly suck up disk space, so I'll have to develop a better data backup/administration procedure and possibly buy more hardware eventually.

bibere usque ad hilaritatem