edit: code line, not cold line... hehe

got down off my high horse of ogg and started using mp3, largely b/c a friend gave me a portable that reads mp3's off of cd-r. My optimum quality to size ration for such listening seems to be fine at around -alt-preset cbr 160 (depending on the difficulty of the music for encoding). -aps is bigger than I feel like going. But, given the bitrate at which I'm working, is there a good vbr setting that's actually intelligent vbr, goes high when it needs to etc (I'm using cbr b/c I don't see abr as giving much marginal benefit... and may be wrong on this). How is the -r3mix setting? I've never used it.

I've searched around a bit and haven't found any clear recommendations on this. Thanks.

rip waves w/ EAC secure
encode using Lame 3.93
Trim any beginning silence, and ending silence if live or supposed-to-be-gapless transition with mp3trim
mp3gain @ 89 dB
Tag using Tag

Hi, I have been using EAC with the -r3mix setting, all in all I am very pleased with the results. I have used it to convert most of my CD collection (mostly stuff like Coldplay, Doves etc.) and I must say (IMHO) that the sound quality is very good. I would reckon that the songs average out at around 170-210 kbps and a good comparison of file size is roughly the same as CBR 192. I have been using LAME 3.90.2 as this still seems to be the most recommended. By the way I have an iRiver SlimX, iFP190 and a Sony NetMD and the r3mix files work on them all with no trouble. For more info go to www.r3mix.net

Cheers

the r3mix setting are very outdated. i would suggest using --alt -preset standard -y, as this will average around what you are looking for with much better quality. for more info see the FAQs.

How about just: --alt-preset 160 ...?

how about --preset medium?

Since you are using 700MB CD-Rs you might as well use --alt-preset-standard -Y. It's probably the safest choice in the 165-180kbps range (unless you are rather sensitive >16KHz).