I ordered iriver slimx , and i need to know if VBR Mp3 using Lame --aps -y
will produce any problem, i'v read about some problems like:
it will not read the track time correctly and , and you may hear some glitches and that a vbr mp3 take more power consuption, is it true?

if yes what is the preferable way to encode mp3 to cd players and still keep hi quality as --aps encoding.
it's very important to me cuz i need to encode all my cd's right now and burn it, cuz i'm going to a trip for a year or so next week, and i dont want to get any suprises when i will be there

You might encounter problems to display the remaining time correctly.
Expect this point, everything is fine.

Hola!

I own an iRiver 250, and it's true, the remaining time will not be correctly displayed using VBR MP3 files, but that's hardly a problem considering the great quality of sound you will get.

The resume function won't work correctly when you turn off your unit, resuming at a random time position within the same file.

Apart from those little annoyances, the SlimX will work flawlessly with VBR (--aps) MP3 files.

Hope this helped

Best wishes from Valencia (by the Mediterranean Sea in Spain / España)...

Ignacio CB
Valencia, Spain

Thnx that's cleared a few things
now, do you know why the time of vbr file isnt displayed correctly and if it could be fixed? maybe with a frimware upgrade or this is an issu with the encoder
and is it true the higher bitrate files consume more power?
(maybe cuz the cd player needs to write more MB to the memory for preventing skips)

Iceberg - I'm confused by your comment. You say "the remaining time will not be correctly displayed using VBR MP3 files" and then you say "Apart from those little annoyances, the SlimX will work flawlessly with VBR (--aps) MP3 files". What is it? Is it the -y switch that causes problems. I have a SlimX and it works just fine with my -aps VBR files, i.e. remaining time is displayed just fine and resume function works everytime.

Daffy

I don't know about the remaining time issue since I never use it (the playing time always seems correct), but my SlimX always resumes fine no matter the mp3. I use a lot of aps -Y.

id3v2 tags are well known with causing problem with VBR mp3s.

use only id3v1 tags and BAM! no problem. Atleast with me

Hola!

I'm not sure why, but the fact is that with my iRiver 250, resuming and displaying of remaining time of VBR MP3 files _with_ id3v2 tags doesn't work as it should.

I haven't tested if it's because of id3v2 tags, but I will do a quick test this week

I like using id3v2 tags because I store quite a lot info about the tracks I rip, like the remixer or the complete name of the remix

Best wishes from Valencia (by the Mediterranean Sea in Spain / España)...

Perhaps that's it. I don't use any tags in my MP3's, so maybe that's causing some of the problems. Let us know how your test goes.

I'v read in pther forums that Id3v2 makes problems but the question is.
although i dont understand it.
is idv31 makes any troubles?

I have a chromeX, (entry-level model from IRiver), and the remaining time of vbr files is wrong.
Just have a look at it, you will see that the duration of a displayed second is not constant.
And because of this, the resume doesn't work correctly.
But don't get me wrong: "doesn't work correctly" only means that the resume position could be wrong by 10 or 20 seconds, depending of the track.
Also this only apply to resume from power-off, not resume from pause mode.

This could be partially fixed by proper reading of the Xing VBR header.

I just ordered an iRiver ChromeX as well...

I recently bought my girlfriend the RioVolt SP-90, flashed it to be the iRiver iMP-100.

VBR works really well, she already has listened to a lot of them, and I haven't heard any complaints. Of course she is not exactly an "expert", but if there were any sound problems, she would have complained. The time display may be wrong, and the resume function may be not as precise as with CBR mp3 files, but... sound is perfect, trust me.

I don't ever use ID3v2 tags, just ID3v1.

I think the VBR support has been improved with iRiver's latest firmware versions. The SP-90 was running on the 2.10 version from iRiver, not from RioVolt (which actually corresponds to a lower version of iRiver's fw), from day 1, so the absence of complaints probably has to do with that.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be able to report on the iRiver ChromeX's performance.

Oh, and the "-Y" switch should not matter, or even if it's ABR, VBR, --aps, or whatever. The mp3 files that LAME will create are just as standard with any of the --alt-presets. I usually go for --alt-preset 145 (hey, I just had to choose a number that made me happy! ).

I would advice all of you to go over to the iRiver's website and upgrade your firmware ASAP, if you haven't done so already.

The batteries should run out faster with higher bitrate mp3 files because the CD has to be read more often. As you have probably noticed, it starts, reads the data into RAM, stops, plays from RAM until is about to run out of data to play, and then starts the CD again to read more data. Logically, the higher the bitrate, the shorter the timelength that fits in the RAM buffer, so that leads to more reads, more starting up the CD, more battery drain... Makes sense. And it would happen just as well with higher bitrate CBR files.

If you are concerned about this, go for WMA at 64Kbps and you will enjoy the artifact torture your ears for a longer time! :x :x (w00t) (w00t) <---- this is to make clear I certainly DON'T mean this last sentence seriously!!!

OT: Now I want OGG!!! (the latest increased expectations have finally convinced me to get this player, plus an unexpected cash income! )