Here's the scenario: I take mp3's from my computer and burn a CD in "audio" format. Later I rip that CD into a diff computer into mp3 format.

Since I am converting to mp3 twice, am I losing quality over the original mp3's?

Yes, most likely.

suck.

as in that does, not you do.

Asbolutely. The sound data the conversion threw out originally can't be restored just by changing from an mp3 file to CD audio, so it's just like recompressing an mp3. Transcoding sucks hard, avoid it whenever possible.

There is a point of no further degradation. but lots depends on sampling rates. the higher the rate, the less loss. But remember that MP3 is a lossy compression method. Additional conversion(s) will increase data loss.

The same thing happens when saving images over and over again in .jpg format. each successive save will degrade the image. As jpeg can be minimally to VERY lossy. jpeg and mpeg I believe use similar codecs and were developed at the same time. Not sure but that 's what I remember.

BeeOk posted thread about different compression schemes earlier this month that you may want to check out. The trade-off will always be between space vs. quality.

Yeah, you are taking a 200+ kbps MP3 file and turning it into 1440 kbps without adding any new data. Ripping that 1440 to a 200 file causes progressive quality loss and data loss, since you compress an alrady compressed file even further.