Hello all,

Every once in a while I like to run a sort of "fun poll", so that everyone can discuss a certain topic.

This time its on MP3 bit rates. Please vote in the poll above about which bit rate you perfer. Please feel free to ask and answer questions about rates, or explain why you prefer that rate.

Thanks

 

I voted 192. 128 is the lowest acceptable bitrate but 192 is preferred. If I can get it in 192 I will, if not I'll get it in 128, anything below that I don't bother with. When I encode them myself it's always in 192, and my own personally created music I encode in 192 nowadays.

20 GB of mp3's here. All organized in a folder by artist following a specific naming scheme.

The Artist- Title of the Song [Info]

Example:
System of a Down- Chop Suey.mp3
System of a Down- Innervision [Bonus Track].mp3

Or if it is a full album, Artist- [Album Name XX]- Title of the Song

Example:
Project 86- [Drawing Black Lines 01]- Stein's Theme.mp3
Project 86- [Drawing Black Lines 02]- One Armed Man (Play On).mp3

Yes, I'm that ****.

 

I will get it in any format i can, but if its below 128 then I won't touch it. If I'm the one creating the Mp3's from an album then I will encode at 320kbit and nothing else.

15 gigs of mp3's (over 200 albums encoded by me, plus some "other" wasy to get songs). Organized.

Genre/Artist/Album/Song if I've got the info.

 

You're wasting your time and hard drive space. (Someone had to light the fire)

[edit]Forgot to mention what I use. 192 constant bitrate. I don't trust software to determine what is important in a song and what isn't (as with VBR), and anything over 192 is a very moot point. You need some top end studio monitors, high quality equipment with a very high signal to noise ratio, a room built for audio reproduction, a high quality mp3 codec, and a few hours of free time to notice the difference between 192 and 256kbit bitrate ripping off of CDs. There is no difference above 256 at all.

 

I like the 320 Variable bitrate with the minimum set to 224. However, recording them at 256 Variable also sound almost as good.

None of this matters a whole lot if you don't have pretty good speakers.

 

Agreed!

 

No, you don't need a studio quality setup to test this. Just a decent computer setup. My setup is damn good for a computer.

Argument 1: A pioneer VSX-D557 DD5.1 reciever, Inifinity US1 bookshelf speakers, and Velodyne CT-120 12" subwoofer at 270w RMS. The book shelf speakers are running 100w RMS @ .008thm. The computer connects to the Reciever via optical cable. I can tell the difference between 192kbit CBR and 320kbit CBR.

Argument 2: The cost per megabyte of storage has never been lower, and it will continue to become cheaper. Almost all of my old hard drives are still functioning and I can always use the old ones to increase the storage capacity of the media server. Consider that the media server in the spare bedroom can store 280gigs. Two 80gig hard drives, and two 60gig hard drives setup as Raid "0" drives. The two 80gig drives make up the Movie drive, and the two 60's make up the Music drive.

My own computer has a 120gig hard drive, and a 40gig drive as a back up with drive images, and also serves as a place where I can store all of the drivers I need for a fresh install.

 

I use 192 constant mostly.... but I would much rather use 192-320 VBR! IF you use a good encoder like lame, then it's pretty much flawless when compared to the source. Plus my car plays vbr so I like it... and I can tell the difference between 320cbr... but I don't use it because of the space, and because almost all my stuff is 192cbr, and I get used to it, I don't want to hear a really good quality song, then notice how crappy the rest of my mp3 cd is...

I say, if you want higher than 192cbr, or 320vbr... then go get a regular cd and a disc changer, otherwise 192 is near-perfect...


P.S. these topics usually explode into fist-fights on audio forums... I saw one the other day about coaxial vs optical.... very ugly indeed.

 

Haha, yeah... sometimes I get sucked in to those, too. Let's keep it civil.

Who won the audio cable fight anyway?

 

well it turns out, that coaxial and optical ARE exactly the same thing, because if you think about it, they are sending digital signals... 1010101001 etc. Plus there is error protection. A guy uses a coat hanger and got a perfect signal, so go figure.

The part that matters is the amplifier itself, if its interpreting the digital signal in a particular manner... that's what makes the audiophiles have wet dreams...

 

Good thing I have this 80 dollar optical Monster cable.

 

Please stay on the topic of MP3 bit rates guys!!

 

BTW, this poll will run to the end of the month.

 

I find 160K Mp3 VBR sounds great. Thats what I encode to

 

how long do polls normally run?

 

No set limit, but usually for a few weeks. If no new posts come for a while I figure that everyone has lost interest in them so there's no need for them to continue. I try to come up with new ones every once in a while even though they are not specific to the third gen community.

 

I like to rip at 192k, not much bigger file size, and very decent quality.

I remember before mp3's, when I used to rip to phone-quality .wav files that were 300mb each!

 

i rip all my albums at vbr. my deck plays them flawlessly, i cannot tell the difference enough between the real disc and the vbr, so i'm more than happy. i can also tend to fit around 8 full albums on a single disc, so i have a lot fewer albums in my car.

when i do the seldom download, 128 is pushing it, but 192 works well enough for a freebie. if i like the song, the album will be in my hands a few weeks later.

 

you do realize that a single wave file at cd quality is only 10mb/minute... not 100mb... you must have meant an entire cd... which would be 650mb, for the entire cd

 

What is a good program to make good quality mp3's i just put a mp3 player in my car and want to put all my cd's into mp3 so i dont have to carry them in my car. I woul dlike something that is free and does not have a 30 day trial peroid thing.

 

CDex would probably fit your bill then Fast RS. Its free, pretty easy to use, and will encode pretty good.

However, its slightly slower than most others.

 

the best mp3 software is a combination of two programs: the LAME encoder, and Exact Audio Copy. they are both free as well. LAME is a dos program, so all you gotta do is unzip it to a folder. EAC does all the work for you and is windows based, so very easy to use. nothing better for ripping great quality VBR mp3s.

 

192 for sure! 128k actually suffices but can get pretty tinny sometimes when hearing percussion instruments, IMO.

 

128 sounds like a homeless man hitting a trashcan with his head to me... 192 is the bare-minimum if you ask me... 192 VBR is good, or anything else above that is great... VBR is good, but not everything can support it, but if your stuff does, then I see no reason not to use it.

 

I will unstick this poll now.
to those who voted.