If you begin to dip your toes into the busy, crowded and confusing world of audio file formats, you'll quickly find yourself swamped with various different types of format, codec, compression ...

While most casual listeners can't tell the difference between formats, choosing the right file type has practical consequences for file size, quality, and compatibility.

I'm just curious as to the pros and cons of the Windows Media Audio format vs. mp3 in terms of quality vs. file size. I did a search, but didn't come up with anything (maybe my search skills suck ...

I know our MP3 Insider audience could probably spot the difference between FLAC and MP3 just by using their finely-tuned ears, but for mere mortals, making sense of audio formats isn't easy.