OK. What I learned so far is, that for bitrates >= 160kbps MPC is the best and for bitrates < 160kbps OGG is the best. So AAC is useless ?!?

Obviously you don't own an iPod

compatibility is the only cause for using AAC? Interesting :alien:

LOL - no, but compatibility can definately be a "dealbreaker".

Seriously, your logic is flawed, because you fail to take into account the fact that AAC performs quite well above AND below 160kbps, thus it's "niche" could be considered, well, EVERYWHERE!

So there is no best encoder for a special bitrate and the selection of the encoder depends on the song you want to encode? :'(

MP3 - best compatibility, and your only choice most of the time outside your computer, 'cept for WMA.

AAC - If your portable supports this, I see no need to stick with MP3, as AAC has been proven better. This'll be the next codec the industry will be pushing, as the new iPod already supports it.

MPC - Best lossy codec w/out a doubt to me and many others, but no hardware support. This is just for listening on your computer I guess.

Ogg Vorbis, I'm not sure of in comparison to AAC so I won't comment.

AAC is interesting because it's being pushed hard and support for it is improving rapidly. It performs reasonable at all bitrates, similar to Vorbis (I think Vorbis is currently a bit better qualitywise).

AAC HE is another matter, it's by far the best at <128bps seemingly.

@dominik: I think I've read all your posts and my impression is that you tend to generalize alot and jump to conclusions. I'm no expert myself, but have you ever thought about the fact that there might be more than one parameter to consider, before you come to a conclusion? Nothing wrong with trying to learn, but why do you need to draw a final conclusion every time you learn something new?
I'm really impressed with the patience all the knowledgable people here show, but I can't help thinking that all these "false" conclusions must be confusing to people that are new to this forum, and are trying to learn.

@upNorth
I know I'm a bit crazy and hasty. But if you read all my posts you should know that I just wanna know what's the best in which coherence (OK. I learned there's something like coherence). I want to archive music in high quality, no need for hardware support. If you give me a link where I find satisfying information for my need, I'll be happy and quiet. But this didn't happen until now because opinions of the people often doesn't seem to accord. I believe there's a truth. PLEASE GIVE ME CLEAR HINTs !
Could it be, that MPC is not the conclusive thing for me? MPC seems to me to be thing I was looking for.

If you are concerned about quality, have you considered lossless codecs? (WavPack, FLAC, etc...) @Rarewares

Edit: Sorry, Rarewares, not Rarewarez. My bad.

I want as small as possible files with as high as possible quality. MPC seems for me to be the perfect compromise. I don't want to get higher bitrates then 250kbps. I guess lossless codecs have someting like a 1:2 ratio.

Currently MPC is the perfect compromise between size/quality and other factors (tagging) for your purose.