I prefer a lossless storage format for a couple of reasons:

First, lossy encoders can introduce artifacts. For those who are encoding large CD collections, it requires that either they tolerate those artifacts or spend time (lots of it no doubt) to eliminate them.

Second, the price of large hard drives continues to drop, so larger audio files aren't as much of an issue.

I have no clue what is planned for the alternative Rio clients, but if they should decide to support flac or another lossless format, it's fairly trivial to host from jrec.

--Reed (http://jreceiver.sourceforge.net)