Re:iTunes / AAC lock-in (Score 1)

Most people I know who rip their CDs in iTunes use mp3. You are not "locked in" to AAC at all with iTunes, except for the music purchased from the iTMS (of course, there are well-documented ways around this.)

iTunes will let you rip in MP3, AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, and WAV. iPods can play those formats too (not sure about WAV on the iPod side though, and too lazy to test it.)