Hi,
in looking for something other than itunes store, which I never used relly, I recently decided to try out the Rhapsody mp3 beta site. It is DRM free and all are supposedly mp3.
It seems there is some inconsistency in the music they provide, some have cover art embeded some don't. Not even a folder.jpg (which is what I would prefer)

The main thing is all the files are 256 kbps constant bit rate. Some are encoded with LAME 3.91. Why would they choose this version I wonder?
Also a few show up as encoder not detected. But looking closer it says FHG. What would that be?
Here is the info I got from one.

Size 6.44 MB (82% Compressed)
Original Size 35.51 MB
Length 3 minutes 31 seconds
Channels 2 (stereo)
Sample Rate 44.1 KHz{CR}
Sample Size 16 bit
Bit Rate 256 kbps
Encoder FHG (Guess)
Encoder Settings Constant Bit Rate 256 kbps
Audio Quality High (Lossy)
Contains ID Tag [ID3v2.3 (ANSI) & ID3v1.0]
Channel Mapping Left, Right
File 3 - Heartless
Type MPEG Layer 3 Audio File [.mp3]

thanks,
Tim

I don't know why some services do the things they do. The Amazon mp3 store offers songs using the FhG mp3 encoder, Lame 3.97, or Lame 3.98.2. I know that eMusic used to encode with Lame 3.91 but I recently downloaded an album using Lame 3.96. FhG is shorthand for the Fraunhofer mp3 encoder, it is just easier to say FhG instead of typing out (and correctly spelling) Fraunhofer.

So it appears that Rhapsody is doing the exact same thing that Amazon.com is doing in that they are using different mp3 encoders/settings for their files. I really wish that companies would stick with one encoder/setting.