Originally Posted by
evasv
I think you shouldn't worry too much about bitrate; the Amazon downloads are probably fine in that regard. Pay more attention to sources and remasters, if that info is available, as they matter more.
320kbps downloads had their purpose 10 years ago when many encoders were crap, but even in those days 192 kbps was fine with a quality encoder like LAME. I sometimes find Spotify 320 kbps to sound bad, but I suspect that has to do with the source or the mastering.
I rarely download mp3, but I'm almost certain that online stores use quality encoders nowadays, otherwise they should be ashamed.
Good mp3's are hard to distinguish from flac and will probably satisfy you soundwise, but if you want perfection, go for flac. I can see your dilemma here, since it's an outtake album after all.
Gapless playing of live albums can be more problematic with mp3 than with flac, but this also depends on your player.