Does the program max use itunes aac and is it worth it to check the use vbr box?

Thanks

Yes it does. However, Max 0.9.1 doesn't seem to produce true VBR, but ACR (even on 10.6.1). XLD on the other hand, does. I highly recommend XLD, I've found it superior to Max (which I first used since it had a more familiar interface). XLD's development is really fast, and that's enjoyable. It rips great (Paranoia mode, checks AccurateRip, etc...) and encodes great, nothing to complain about.

I as well have switched from Max to XLD. For three reasons;

1) XLD is more regularly updated.
2) It adds encoder information in the tagging.
3) It assigns 'VBR' to the bit rate tag.
4) I learned how to preserve directory structure during batch conversions. ;-)

That, and I believe that XLD now utilizes all cores simultaneously when converting multiple files, one per core. I don't believe Max does.

Actually, Max does that too, but I agree with your other points