1.) As a newbie, I have LAME 3.90.3 set to --altpreset -standard.
I thought that this setting was a VBR of about 192 kbs bit rate.
Am I mistaken?

And I'm starting to get a grasp of what all that means.


2.) I just read the PINNED Topic (Dated Dec 2002) of 3.90.3 VS. the latest version 3.96.1.
I still don't know if all that stuff (over-my-head) means that 3.96.1 is the new recommended LAME version?

It seems all of the readings I've seen recomending LAME 3.90.3 are a couple of years old, true?

Help, please?

Yes. These days, there is a conclusionless debate about whether 3.96.1 should replace 3.90.3 as recommended LAME compile or not.

For all that it's worth, I use 3.96.1, because it's quite faster than 3.90.3 and so far noone managed to convince me or anyone else that quality degraded from one version to another.

Thanks, and what about:

1.) As a newbie, I have LAME 3.90.3 set to --altpreset -standard.
I thought that this setting was a VBR of about 192 kbs bit rate.
Am I mistaken?

yes what about it? are you mistaken? why do you ask?
1) you just want to know if it the information is right?
--> yes. the average bitrate should be something about 192kbit, often higher and sometimes lower, depending on the music you encode.
2)you encoded a few files and came to see that the bitrates didn't average around 192kbit? --> see above.

The thing is, though, that some types of music can cause bitrate bloat. I've encoded using aps and gotten over 250 kbps.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=29174

Lame is just trying to encode using the quality level you asked. If you want a lower bitrate, then you should ask for a lower quality level. With 3.90.3 is means --alt-preset standard -Y or --alt-preset medium, with 3.96 it means -V3 or -V4/--preset medium.

I know, I was just saying that to say that if you want about 192 kbps, you may need to change settings occasionally. Also, I don't think 3.90.3 supports --alt-preset medium.

For 3.90.3: Is there a difference between:
--alt-preset standard -Y
and
--alt-preset medium
?

Yes.
It is recommended that you use --alt-preset medium, if you want a mid-bitrate VBR preset.
--alt-preset standard -Y will not lower the bitrate significantly in many cases.

THX!

try LAME 3.96.1 --preset standard... this is what I use and my average bitrate of my music collection is ~197kbps