Hey guys nice to meet you:)

I am using CDex using the following options...

VBR quality: High
Bit rate: 128kbps min-320kbps max
Joint Stereo
Thread priority: Normal
Paranoia: Full

Out if these options, the one that I'm unsure about the most is the bit rate. 128kbps is the minimum I'd like to settle for. The question is, is 320kbps too high with VBR enabled? At this setting, what average bit rate can I expect to get out of Lame via CDex? Should I lower the max bit arte from 320kbps to 256kbps?

The other issue is VBR method. There is VBR old, VBR new, VBR MTRH, VBR-ABR and VBR default. I have been using VBR MTRH and haven't had any problems but are any of the other choices recommeded over MTRH?

And what about VBR presets quality? "R3mix" vs "High" vs "Very High Quality"? I've been told that r3mix is good but I don't like the fact that it forces a minimum bit rate to 96kbps. With "High(q=2)" the min bit rate doesn't change from where you left it. And at 128kbps-320kbps, is "Very High Quality" worth using over "High Quality"?

Finally, everyone and their mother has recommended --alt-preset-standard in the LAME CDex option. But WHERE IS IT? I don't see the term "--alt-preset-standard" anywhere in CDex and I'm using version 1.40beta! Is it in one of the drop down menus? Is it a command line I must type in the .ini file somewhere? Please help me enable it.

Thanks in advance.

Get 1.5 beta 5 (the latest as of this writting)... the alt presets are all there in the drop down menu.

As for the bitrates, just use whatever sounds best for you. For myself, I use fast standard with bitrates min 128 and max 224, because I cant honestly tell the difference with bitrates above that. But if you have golden ears, bump it up all the way to 320.

Thanks you're the man:)

Couple of quick notes/thoughts...

What's up with the official LAME Project homepage? They have links to the source code but it's not an ".exe" file. Instead it's a tar.gz file...WTF? Why not link to the .exe format instead of tar.gz that's just dumb. EAC won't even read the file unless it's got an exe extention.

Speaking of extentions,(basically a windows related issue) I use to be able to rename file extentions to whatever I want(i.e. the txt extention would turn it into a text file, etc). But now, typing whatever extention I want at the end of a file does nothing and leaves it unchanged. What do need to do to change it back to that option?

Back to CDex...correct me if I'm wrong but if a CD has a couple of scratches on it, to avoid CDex producing any pops or clicks in the song would it be more cautious just unclicking the "Encode mp3 on the fly" box, allowing it to rip to wave first, then encode to mp3?

because the exe is illigal in a sence.


probably because you have disable to show extension of know file types.....
now you just add .etc BEFORE the real extension.

[this computer]->[folder settings]->[show]
(I hope this is what it's called on your computer, it's a translation from my danish version of windows)
disable hidding of know extensions


it shouldn't matter if you use "secure mode" (edit: it's called "paranoid mode" in CDex) ripping.

If you use paranoia, full as ripping method, then there is no problem at all:)