Disk space is cheap. I don’t like compromising on quality vs disk or bandwidth…
I have over 3400 songs (legally) ripped to Apple Lossless. no question what option I chose. And despite your arguements, I listen to all of them - I like albums, not “songs” - my gf and I were talking about that the other day, people seem so interested in mix disks / playlists, I for one could NEVER deal with something like an iPod Shuffle where it was just a smattering of my stuff, on random. I get in the mood to hear something and want to hear it…
edit: and I keep 192mp3 versions of all of that on my laptop / to copy to my iPhone - cuz honestly while there IS a big difference on a good stereo / good headphones, when I travel I’d rather have ALL of it at lower quality than some, at excellent quality.