There is no "best" choice here. However although the two formats basically do the same thing, which is capture the contents of a CD in a "bit perfect" file on one's hard drive, there are some very substantial differences between the file formats.

In the case of the wav file you get a completely uncompressed file which is very large and contains no metadata, such as song name, album name, artist name, artwork, etc. However wav files are pretty much universal and supported by just about any media player on the market plus there is no digital rights management available for wav files.

In the case of a Windows Media Audio Lossless file you get a compressed file but it is compressed without losing any data and the file is about 50% smaller than a wav file. However the Windows Media Audio Lossless format is a proprietary file format and is playable only in a limited number of media players licensed by Microsoft and this format supports digital rights management. The format also supports metadata and file tagging.

I avoid any file format that supports digital rights management but I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to DRM.

There are other lossless formats available such as FLAC which supports file tagging but not DRM and has a fairly wide array of media players that support it. The Apple Lossless format is also worth looking at and I don't believe that it currently supports DRM, which is why Apple doesn't sell any music in that format on the iTunes store, but you can rip your own CDs into that format by using iTunes.

"The Apple Lossless format is also worth looking at and I don't believe that it currently supports DRM, which is why Apple doesn't sell any music in that format on the iTunes store, but you can rip your own CDs into that format by using iTunes. "

Jazzfan has, again, provided the answer. Come on, Yiangos, it's time for you to get into the Mac environment like everyone else who has a vested interest in audio. Throw off those PC chains. Do it now.

I use ALAC and it sounds great, but there is always the possibility Apple will put DRM in it.
FLAC can now work with itunes if you get the right plugin.

EAC to FLAC and forgettaboutit!

RG

There are FLAC implementations for Macs, Windows, Linux, etc.

For more: http://flac.sourceforge.net/