Should I convert my mini-disc files to .wav files before converting to Mp3?
It doesn't matter. Internally in the computer, when music is recorded, it is always in wav format. It's only when you write the file to disk that it's converted to mp3 format.
If you wish to edit the music in some manner in the future, then I recommend that you save a copy in wav format. Of course, wav files take up a lot of space, so you may need to archive your wav files on CDs.