I hear a lot about CBR and VBR; what’s wrong with ABR?, Was “MP3 ABR WHY NOT.” (shouting won’t make anyone likelier to reply) Options

[soylentgreen]

I have read numerous forums and articles about mp3 cbr and vbr, some swear by cbr others vbr, the debate just goes on and on. I,ve tried cbr 256, vbr 256, cbr 320, cbr 192 cbr etc and I cant hear any difference. My question is why bother with cbr or vbr, why dont people just go with MP3 ABR, would this not be the ideal compromise, or I am missing something, as there does seem to be lack of mp3 abr on offer as downloads from the likes of Napster etc.

[DVDdoug]

why dont people just go with MP3 ABR, would this not be the ideal compromise...

I think it depends on what your goals & contraints are. For most people VBR is probably the best compromize because it makes the file as small as possible while maintaining the desired quality.

If for some reason you need a particular file (or set of files) to be a particular file size, I suppose VBR is the way to go. For example, if you are trying to squeeze a movie onto a DVD, and you know you will have to reduce the bitrate (to less than you'd rather use)... You would know the maximum file size and playing time, and from that you could calculate the average bitrate needed to use-up all of the space on the DVD. (This is exactly what DVDshrink does.) But, if you have a short movie that easily fits on the disc, there's no reason to do this...

I have read numerous forums and articles about mp3 cbr and vbr, some swear by cbr others vbr, the debate just goes on and on. I,ve tried cbr 256, vbr 256, cbr 320, cbr 192 cbr etc and I cant hear any difference.

Right... If the all of the compressed files are transparent (sound exactly like the uncompressed original) you can't say one setting is "better" than another. Unless you define better as a smaller file... Then, the one with the lowest average bitrate will be the smallest, and it's the "best" option.

If you go to 96kbps, you might hear a difference and you might find that VBR (or ABR) sounds better than CBR.