I have some foreign language teaching CDs I'd like to put onto my MP3 walkman. I want to minimise the space they take up while still being able to listen carefully to the pronounciation of German words. Small audible artifacts would not be a big problem. What LAME settings would people recommend? I tired a search on "spoken word lame mp3 vbr" but without success.

thanks in advance!

I think encoding at 22khz mono @ around 24kbps seems to be just fine with me. It sounds reasonable enough, you could even use GOGO encoder to do it quickly if you wanted.

I'm only suggesting this because quality is not the priority.

You could always lower the bitrate and find your own satisfactory threshold.

The best way to learn is via experimentation.

Ruairi

If you encode at low bitrates and sampling rates different than 44.100Hz, you should use an FhG encoder. The FhG encoders perform much better than Lame at these conditions.

Regards;

Roberto.

I would really much rather use an Open Source encoded where I have the option. I'd be using .ogg but my MP3 player (an Archos Jukebox Recorder) doesn't support it...

thanks for the recommendations!