i wish there was a way to make him switch to a better format but according to a poll on his page most users think like him :

What is your prefered music format?

320k CBR MP3 42.86% (63)
192k CBR MP3 21.77% (32)
VBR MP3 9.52% (14)
OGG 17.01% (25)
APE 6.80% (10)
MPC 2.04% (3)
other 0.00% (0)

I remember my first VBR MP3. It was an Xing encode of a Black Sabbath tune, whch varied from around 80kbps to 160kbps. There was bad distortion at every rate which seemed to change incoherently with every visual switch of bitrate on WinAMP.

Since I never use Xing, I'm still not sure to this day whether it was a bug in the then-current version of WinAMP or the Xing encoder's true colours showing through.

Now I love VBR MP3. I try and use --aps as much as possible with my RioVolt SP 250.

My what an interesting discussion on VBR! I just recently purchased a iRiver IFP player 256MB version, and wat does a HydrogenAudio user do? I encode four of my CD's that I am listening to atm with --alt-preset 128... which gives me a file that would be generally higher quality than that of a CBR 128kbps file.

Fits four albums and I am eternally grateful for all the tuning that went into the --alt-presets.

VBR r0x0rs!!!

Cheers
AgentMil