Basic Knowledge to Digital Music Part 1

The music and it's format:

In this part, we discuss the numerous formats music is available in this digital age. Let's consider that CD/DVD are the source that use PCM audio format (big files, a 4 minute song can be stored at 50MB size file) , so any ripped musics from the source needs to be converted into a certain format of digital music file. Here are some of the most important to know:

- MP3
This is a standard format to get a smaller size of music. Of course, being smaller in size means there are quality to sacrifice. Most common in today's are 64kbps-320 kbIt/s. The higher the better. However, even at the highest conversion, the music quality will still lost parts of the music when compared to the original or higher end format. Regular music file in MP3 format usually is 3MB-12MB depending on the conversion method.  By audiophiles and Headfi-ers, mp3 is considered a lossy format since some of the music are cut off due to the smaller size of the file.

- Apple and Windows format
Both Microsoft and Apple produces wma and m4a as their standard format. Both also has lossless version which has more details, but still loss details. These 2 formats are better than Mp3. However, each has different quality. wma has bigger size file. Mostly sized at 4MB-20MB.
Both Apple and Microsoft also built a lossless format called ALAC and WAVE.

- FLAC
FLAC format is commonly know among the audiophiles and Headfi-ers as the minimum standard of high fidelity music file. The details are more apparent and significantly higher quality compared to the previous formats. The file also significantly larger: +/- 30MB.
FLAC measurement is using unit data measurement between 8-24 bit.

- WAVE
This format is is probably the closest to the source and even has more details compared to the rest. Significantly more high quality means the listeners can listen to all instruments played in a music as presented and intended by the musicians. Close to original means the loss of quality is very little that human ears usually can't recognize the difference immediately. The file size is usually +/-40MB depending on the conversion and music duration. A 2 minute song would be around 20MB in size when converted to WAVE format.
Although there are still arguments, WAVE is considered to be the best digital format available for digital music. However also the lost difficult to play. The measurement standard is also measured in kHz instead of kbps. Most common standard found is 8-24 bit.
To those not familiar with high definition recording, Wave format musics are considered bright, high in treble. This is due to the high details contained in the music file. Hence you will need a higher level headphones or speakers to play the file to reproduce it's high detailed music.

- ALAC
Apple lossless format is also common in iPod and iPhone. Like Wave format, the file is is large, bit not as large as the  original. It is smaller than Wave and has different musical characteristic since it has Apple musical signature of sound. Although it is also high in details, more boomy bass is apparent.
Alac can only be played in Apple standard player: iTunes, iPod, iPad and iPhone. With this limitation, Wave is more popular among Headfi-ers and audiophiles.

There several lore formats available, but it is less common, like ogg, aiff, etc.
If you found a high end mp3 player capable of playing high end music format, don't be surprised that at 64 MB is still considered a small player. High end music player examples: SanDisk Sansa, Cowon, iRiver, HiFiMan, and so on. Although iPod is capable to play lossless formats, most audiophiles considered them lower level quality in  term sound produced.
As an example, even at lossless format, iPod will play drum beats with boomy beats or guitar riffs extended to mask the lost details. While in other high end players, you can heard the drum stick hitting the drum skin or guitar pick striking the string of guitar.
The result is a different experience of listening. Higher details means we listen to music as intended by the musicians. While lossy music is just a music played like in an FM radio (reproduced to equal as 128kbps mp3).

Warning: Once you got used to hear the high end music standard format, you will always feel lossy format lack of "spirit".

Source:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_audio_formats