Regarding audio compression:

BTW, No offense meant here.

When audio CD's first came on the market, there was a small group of folks that suggested using a black magic marker to seal the outer edge of the CD so that none of the laser light would be lost. They said that a portion of the audio was lost due to the leakage of the laser through to edge of the CD. These folks said they could hear the difference. This was BS and so is a lot of the down talk about compression. Sure too much compression can be heard and can ruin a good recording. But if done properly to the right audio content using a good compression scheme, the audio will be all but indistinguishable from the original but will take much less storage area and stream more efficiently.

If you don�t need to compress data, don�t. But it is a useful practice in certain circumstances.

Dave