Hi all

Just got my Zen Touch and so far ripped about 10 albums using Creative's Mediasource - at 320 kbps constant bit rate. Before I go and ripped all my other albums I would like to know if I'm ripping the albums too high i.e. should I do it at 192 Kbps or will there be any quality issues.

Also, should I forget about creatives software and download LAME? Is this good?

Cheers
S

I personally do it at 192kbps, it is kinda the boarderline between quality and size.

Unless you have a super mega ultra duper sound system you probably won't be able 2 tell between 320kbps and 192kbps. But most people (including me) can tell the difference between 192kbps and 128kbps, you probably can't tell difference between 192 and 128 if you use standard PC speakers but i have 2.1 and i can tell.

So, Yeah, i use 192kbps as a compremise for quality/size. If you want i higher bitrate than that, i wouldn't use 320, try 256 because 320 is really pushing spacewise.

Welcome to CDFreaks and I Hope you find your answer!!

Thanks

I have MediaSource as well, and used to use it to rip. I switched to ExactAudioCopy (exactaudiocopy.de), and use LAME 3.90.3 for encoding (I downloaded it at hydrogenaudio.com). There is a command line that you can put into EAC when you select your compression options that will do a VBR mp3 of approximately 200kbps. Actual bitrate depends on the song. The command line is:

--alt-preset standard

With EAC you can also install a program called AccurateRip (accuraterip.com), which will check each song against a database to see if it matches what others obtain for their rips. Not every disc is in the database, but the database grows as each user submits their rips.

I like that way much better than just using a program like MediaSource. It might take more time, but you get better results (at least in my opinion).