I have a collection of roughly 1,500 MP3s that are encoded with 128-192kbps (For example, by iTunes.) I just pop the cd in the drive, and hit 192kbps and then hit start lol. After reading these forums for quite some time I have figured that a constant MP3 bitrate is not the best route for listening to music. I want to achieve the best audio quality possible while not going insanely large on file size. (As I will be transferring music to an 20GB (4th Generation) iPod.) I have tested lossless codecs (of corse, very large file sizes appeared, but with very god quality. I then began experimenting with VBR and (correct me if I am wrong) I believe this is the best route to go. I obviously use LAME (everyone says its the best). I encoded a few MP3s with this setup:

VBR
Min bit rate: 192kbps
Max bit rate: 320kbps
Quality level: 0 (9 being lowest, 0 being highest)

My questions are:

Is AAC codec any better? I do not know anything at all about this codec. If so, what are some very good quality settings for it? What program should I use?

Which is the best program to encode with? Is iTunes alright for VBR?

What stereo mode should I use? Is joint stereo better?

What MPEG version should I use?


I am sorry for all the questions but I am pretty new to encoding music.

Thanks,
Mike Hartl

The iTunes encoder was rated as one of the worst in the 128 Kbps MP3 listening
test. You would be better off with LAME.



Yes, it's better. There are three quality settings and several bitrates.
You should use iTunes version 4.2 (newer versions have high frequency
cut-off issues) or the Nero AAC codec.



Yes, joint stereo is better.

According to the listening tests QuickTime AAC finished top codec.
As for quality you cannot improve the quality of the 1500 mp3s that you mention. Now if you have a CD that was purchased (not burned from mp3s) and you wanted the best quality. You would ripped with EAC and encode with a LOSSLESS codec and then transcode them into separate LAME VBR (-alt preset standard) mp3s. (This is the way I do it)

Just remember you SHOULD NEVER transcode mp3s from one lossy codec to another lossy codec.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrr, someone beat me to it..... lol

You can obtain better results by trying:
--alt-preset standard

I recommend you start by reading:

List of recommended LAME compiles:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=478

List of recommended LAME settings:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=203

glad someone finally said it...

Should we also mention that you might wanna try EAC as a ripper, seeing as it's a secure ripper?

First of all thank you for the vast and helpful replys.

Currently I'm testing out using EAC to rip VBR MP3s with LAME. Is there any way to encode 48khz Audio Sample Rate MP3s over 44khz? I don't see an option to do this in EAC.

Thanks,
Mike

Are you ripping DVDs or something? I don't know any reason you'd want a 48KHz MP3... My RioVolt can't even play those!

I would suggest re-ripping original factory pressed CDs to a lossless codec ( I prefer FLAC). Use Exact Audio Copy with AccurateRip to rip the music and encode to FLAC. Then you can buy the sveta portable music tool ( www.dbpoweramp.com ) to transcode from flac directly to AAC or MP3 for your iPod.