best bit rate?

nome

hey all,
could any one tell me what the best bit rate for riping music is so as to keep the sound quality good but size small, only have a 512mb mp3 player and would like to squeez bit more music on it.
cheers

Mr E

When I rip music, I rip it to 192kbps. Any tracks I want to fit on my MP3 player (a 512mb like yours), I convert them down to 96kbps WMA -- they sound perfect at that size (to me, anyway).

If you are stuck with MP3 (or don't want to convert), 128kbps should be fine.

tman

160kbps is imo, the lowest you can go while still maintaining decent sound quality.
192 ftw.

128 does sound alright if you're using an app that lets you adjust the quality/speed of encoding (cdex)
it sounds ****ing horrible if done through itunes/media player et al.

OfflerCrocGod

Use VBR (Variable Bit Rate) from 160 to 320 (I suppose 128 *cringe* to 320 is acceptable). The best advice I can give you though is to get a new MP3 player because 512Mb is not that much.

Creamy Goodness

i always encode at 192kbps

i don't know why i just do

aaf

Use EAC to rip your cd's into MP3's and use the following guide to help you set it up with the lame encoder. It will then rip your cd's using VBR and predefined settings which have been tried and tested to ensure the best bitrate for each track.

nome

Great, thank for the advice guys,
cheers

grimloch

Another vote for 192. To think I used to record my music at 64 kbps. /shudder.

RicardoSmith

I use 192 aswell. Still can hear a difference from CD, but 128 and 64 sound woeful to me.

PiE

-alt-preset standard is widely regarded as the best MP3 bitrate these days. High quality without the huge filesize that CBR creates.

But since you're only using it on a MP3 player with (probably) cruddy earphones, VBR 64kbps -> 160kbps would probably provide adequate sound quality with small'ish filesizes. Just don't go playing those MP3's on a decent speaker system :O

weemcd

wouldnt go below 192 tbh

melekalikimaka

i agree

Goldstein

192kbps here too. Seems to be a good trade off. Much higher and your battery life will suffer a lot, lower and the deterioration in sound quality is too severe.

hargo

TMB I see u rip to 192kbps and then convert to 96kbps when putting on to your mp3 player can u tell me how u do this. I have iriver and when i drag a file across it goes in the format it was ripped at. thanks

Irishpimpdude

i have a crappy little muvo 128mb and i have about 60 tracks on it! using 64kbit/s and it reall sounds the same as an mp3 @ 192 on the muvo lol !

thejovialhost

grimloch wrote:

Another vote for 192. To think I used to record my music at 64 kbps. /shudder.

Ditto. Anything lower than 128kbps is just not worth it, screw the saved disc space it sounds like crap!

RicardoSmith

I use 192kps or VBR myself. Of course if you are listening on a noisy bus with poor earphones then you may not notice the difference.