For my digital music library I'm just starting to convert I downloaded the BonkEAC(fre:ac) software and ripped an album to FLAC and then converted it to MP3 with MP3 LAME v2 fast standard setting.
according to the 'Jiggafellz' guide to ripping with EAC'.
It ended up giving me 320kbps files.
Now most stores like Amazon.com offer 256kbps and sometimes 320kbps MP3s should I try to standardize on one of these two bitrates?
Originally I thought I would make all of my new FLAC conversions to MP3s as 192 kbps files as a good compromise in quality vs storage for portable players (thinking 32-128GB units in the next 2-5 years).
I will be keeping the FLAC files always.
Using EAC/fre:ac What would you guys recommend as to a good type (bitrate) of MP3 to make for portable use? Is 256kbps a good compromise to save some storage space for portable players?
Short version: use EAC or dbPoweramp as your ripper, and use the guides here on HydrogenAudio in the wiki to configure them - many of the guides in the wild on the Internet are old / unreliable / wrong.
As for the bitrate issue, everyone finds different settings transparent, and the point at which you achieve transparency also varies depending on your listening environment. The only way to find out what works best for you is to do a set of ABX tests.
Many people find that somewhere between LAME -V2 and LAME -V4 is transparent, so you might want to start at -V2 and work downwards.
256 kbps is probably overkill for portable use, but you need to test it with your own ears.
The good new is, since you are keeping the FLAC files, if you pick a setting that turns out to be not quite good enough, you can always reencode.
BTW, use a vbr setting.
256 kbps is probably overkill for portable use, but you need to test it with your own ears.
Yes I just did a couple tests with a Jazz album.
1.from a folder of WAV files I had ripped an album 2 years ago.
2. use MP3tag software to add album artwork & use Amazon database for song numbering order.
3. using BonkENC convert to MP3 with LAME, VBR, no minimum bit rate, and with maximum bitrate @ 256kbps.
pdq thanks for your opinion.
Now I'll just did test with the maximum bitrate @ 192kbps and compare the file sizes. the 192kbps one was only minor difference in file size from 3.96MB to 3.8MB. Not really worth it i guess.
I'll still check Wiki in Hydrogen audio to try some others...
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...ncoder_settings (http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME#Recommended_encoder_settings)
Always set maximum bitrate to 320 kbps. There's no reason to lower it.
Just as an example, I remember a particular Sony boombox that could not decode anything above 128kbits.
I hope that it's a Stone Age of mp3 players...
It was. Sometimes people talk about bandwidth constrains for streaming applications as well, though I don't know how relevant any of this is in this particular situation.