Emailing MP3's. Options

[haylo]

Hi,

I've recently started using LAME after finding out that it's better than the Fraunhoeffer encoding process. There's still a lot I don't understand about it....I've checked out the FAQ on various LAME settings, but it's a little overwhelming. For my own general use, I've settled on some switches that have been recommended.

Can anyone recommend a good setting to use for emailing MP3's? What annoyed me with the Fraunhoeffer MP3 process, was that by the time I got the quality down to where it would attach to an email, it had that terrible warbly sound.

I'm assuming that with LAME, there's a pretty good ABR setting for this. From what I've read so far, VBR is good for higher bitrates, and ABR is good for lower bitrates. I haven't messed with ABR yet, though.

So if someone could make a suggestion: in your experience, what is the LOWEST ABR setting you can get before you start hearing artifacts? Since it's for emailing music clips, I understand that a little bit of sacrifice in quality might be made, but I'd like to learn how to exploit the LAME process for the best quality, lowest bitrate to attach to emails.

I know about that chart with all the various settings on it, but honestly it confuses me. Just wondered if anyone could share their personal preferences, to give me a ballpark starting point.

Thanks!