Hi,
I want to archive my cds to dvd without uing too much space.
That's why I want to encode at 192Kbps.
Will mp3 or aac give me better results at this rate?
thnx,
geo

Would this help?

The general line here seems to be that AAC has more potential as a format (especially at lower bitrates), but that right now LAME at high bitrates is about as good as AAC. And since mp3 is compatible with everything and AAC is not, go with mp3. You should use LAME --preset standard instead of 192 kbps, though - they'll come out about the same average bitrate, but significantly better quality. Unless you're using a new iPod, which apparently doesn't handle vbr well.

Only if he plans to use the public Nero encoder for classical music.

I'd go with 192kbps VBR AAC. Both are transparent on most music, but my experience is that AAC handles high frequencies better and there's less pre-echo. With AAC there's less problem samples and certainly no bitrate bloat. It's also a lot faster to encode.

Much equipment is AAC compatible these days also, so that argument is becoming less and less valid.

How many CDs are we talking about?

I have backed up about 250 CDs to 21 DVDs using FLAC. It doesn't really take that much space.

Using FLAC I can transcode later to whatever lossy format suits me at any given time. It should be an overnight job on a modern computer.

Exactly - and a 25-pack of quality DVD+R (e.g. Verbatim) cost about the same as one standard priced music CD here. I use wavpack, though. In addition, I backup as lame --pfs mp3-images on DVDs. 3 DVDs stores about 200 images, and I can play them on my standalone DVD player.

What are pfs-images? I can't get my DVD player to read mp3s on mine, will using a 'pfs-image' work?

--pfs refers to the command line used on the lame encoder to trigger the "Preset Fast standard".

As for image, I guess he means a "CD rip"

Yes, the option --pfs doesn't exists - it's just a shortcut for --preset fast standard. With image I mean a CD rip of a complete CD to one mp3 file (image) + a cuesheet file (CD description). Most DVD players can play mp3 files on CD-R media, but unfortunately, surprisingly few can play mp3's burned on DVD media.