MP3 bitrate question

[sublime79]

If I'm ripping a cd with the intent of using the mp3s to make mix cds, what bitrate should I use?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

If you're ripping them only to burn them again, just leave them as pcm. Encoding them to mp3 and then decoding them will just result in a loss of quality, and unless you're talking about a LOT of CDs, then you should be able to handle the space.

 

[sublime79]

Lemme ask it this way...

If I make a cd using an MP3 that's 160kbps, will I be able to tell a difference if I use a MP3 that's 320kbps?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Maybe, maybe not. It's entirely subjective. You'll have to find out how sensitive your ears are to audio encoding.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

unless you're senstive to such things you might not mind the difference at all (some might not be able to tell the difference). If you're making non mp3 CDs and you're going to eventually delete the mp3s from your drive, then go ahead and use the higher quality.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

dp nt

 

[sublime79]

Cool. Now another question Does normalizing a cd when you burn it distort the songs?

 

[glen]

Are you making a CD that will play on any cd player, or are you intending it for use on an MP3 player?

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: sublime79
Cool. Now another question Does normalizing a cd when you burn it distort the songs?

normalizing just adjusts the volume so it doesn't get super LOUD.

Most advance people prefer to keep normalzing OFF but use REPLAYGAIN to 'normalize' the files.

 

[sublime79]

Originally posted by: glen
Are you making a CD that will play on any cd player, or are you intending it for use on an MP3 player?

Yeah, a cd for any/every cd player.

 

[Ludacris]

I think a great bitrate to use is 192. Anything less sounds crappy at least to me.

 

[Slick5150]

I would recommend using the LAME encoder, and using its "standard VBR" (Variable Bitrate) setting. This will allow you to encode with very high quality, at a pretty small file size.

As for normalizing, it can degrade the quality depending on what program is doing it, and how it's being done.