I've a problem ripping the Snow Patrol CD "Final Straw" to Vorbis using oggenc2.exe (GT3b2) VBR 128

All tracks come out with a bitrate of 102 to 127 kbps except for track 12 which comes out at 71kbps. I understand Vorbis decided 71kbps is sufficient for this track. Unfortunately this bitrate is too low for my iRiver iMP (iMP-400) to play.

What do I do to configure (command line option ?) to get the bitrate at a more even level for all the tracks - so that I don't have to go re-encoding some tracks to be "iRiver compatible" ? Can I force the bitrate to stay close to 128kbps with the above version, or is there a different version specifically for CBR settings?

Q5 gives me 119kbps but according to Mr Q. Man 0.4 overall 180kbps not 128kbps.

The -m switch does the trick -m 96 chosen as the iRiver supports 96-160 kbps.

THANKS!!!

You can try a higher q value (such as q 5). There is also a -m option for setting the minimum bitrate. Another option is to use ABR (average bitrate) using -b 128 and --managed but this will probably give you less quality.

Maybe you wanna try out the recommended encoder for lower bit rates,
below q=5, aoTuV B2?

GT3 is VERY UNRECOMMENDED version for use at such bitrates because of 'floggy' tunings. Better use aoTuVb2 version.
1. It is tuned to work at these bitrates (actualy, as I know, it is tuned for all -q values).
2. It's real bitrate is much more predictable than GT3's.

Floggy wont interfere until you go below -q 0. But there is no difference with the reference codec < -q 4 anyway.

Sorry to butt into this thread, but is there a way to limit the maximum bitrate? I'm encoding at q7 and I fear that the bitrate could perhaps exceed the 360kbps mark for my iRiver-390 .. or will that never happen with gt3b2?

To limit the maximum rate, use -M 360

-M 360 don't seem to work, I always get a 40 kB file out of this
It displays the correct thing in the encoder, though ... maybe this is a bug with gt3b2?