Interesting, thanks.

I wouldn't use a proprietary format because I could neverbe sure when in the future I'd want to read / re-encode, and what type of systems I'd have available at that timer, other than knowing I'd always have access to free software.

I have some FLAC archives, but I don't use them - so support to play that format hasn't been something I've taken much notice of. Do you normally play your ALACs, or keep an mp3 / ogg / aac version around to actually listen to?