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[WolfWalker]

I have a library full of all different formats and quality. I would like to make a library of all mp3 at 128. I would like to be able to convert all the music that is not at mp3 128 to mp3 128 but skip the ones that are mp3 128 and move to another location. How do you do that. the convert options are a little confusing to me.

[tunetyme]

That is relatively easy. 
Get into your main music listing.  Make sure you have "file type" and "bitrate" as columns.  To add these right click on the header where you want them located.  Select them.  Sort first by file type then by bitrate.  Highlight all the files that are greater than 128 and MP3.  Go to tools, advanced tools, convert.  Set up your encoder at the top and click start.  After you have all your existing MP3 in this format then you can select all the others in whatever format and convert to MP3 128.

Tunetyme

[WolfWalker]

I would like to keep the main library as various format and bit-rate. the new library would be mp3 @128. So I guess I would have to copy all of the old library to a new drive. then convert it. I want to keep the originals.

[Alex B]

Just keep in mind that re-encoding a lossy file (e.g. MP3) to a new lossy file will always introduce some additional quality loss. For example re-encoding a 192 kbps MP3 to file to a 128 kbps MP3 file will not result the same audio quality that a 128 kbps MP3 file would have when it is ripped and encoded directly from the original audio CD or encoded from a lossless source file. The additional quality loss may be audible in some cases.

Regarding the 128 kbps constant bitrate (aka CBR) setting, a variable bitrate (aka VBR) setting with a similar target bitrate would produce higher quality (regardless of the previous file format and/or bitrate). The "High Quality Portable" setting produces files that are typically in the 115-145 kbps range. In VBR mode the encoder tries to maintain constant quality. The more complex audio signals will have a higher bitrate.

[WolfWalker]

so i should use High Quality Portable vbr instead of 128

[JimH]

I would.

[WolfWalker]

Do I need to copy all the files to another drive so that I may keep the orginals

[Alex B]

so i should use High Quality Portable vbr instead of 128

Absolutely. You can expect the overall average bitrate to be about 130-140 kbps for modern loud pop/rock music and 115-130 kbps for classical, "quiet jazz", acoustic folk, etc. Naturally individual files may vary more.

Also, if you must re-encode (aka transcode) you should avoid transcoding files that are below about 200 kbps (if you care about audio quality). This is of course just my opinion, but I follow that rule when I "must" create smaller files for a portable. Naturally you can convert a bunch of various test files (perhaps of different genres) and judge the quality by yourself.

Do I need to copy all the files to another drive so that I may keep the orginals

In any case that would be a good precaution if don't already have a backup archive of the files.