Hi again,
ok - how the verification file works is that it creates a Cycle Redundancy Check file.
ANY change to the file will result in it failing so yes, saving the image in it will change it and make it fail.
The way to overcome this is to make any changes you want (ie saving images inside the file etc) BEFORE u create the check file.
Get it how you want it then create the check file. That way it'll always be the same.
Another thing, although saving the image in the file itself means that you have the file as self containing as possible, it also means that if you have say a cover of 200Kb and 10 songs then each of those 10 songs is going to become 200kb bigger by saving the image into it instead of just having a single 200kb image separetely.
I recommend saving the image simply into the directory itself rather than embedding it into the mp3.
Especially with as many albums as you have it'll save you quite a lot of space overall.
using the example sizes I mentioned about you'd be saving nearly 2Mb just from that one album.
As for the encoder on the site, it says it is based on LAME v3.92 so I'm presuming that it's just the full LAME v3.92 so yeah, go ahead and use it.
For the best possible encoding with LAME using VBR I was told this will give you the best: -q 0 -d -v -V 0 -k
U choose MP3 Encoder VBR - then choose custom from the quality field and enter that by clicking on advanced.
For best quality and small file sizes I was told this set of parameters:
--nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98 -X0
lol - dont ask what they all mean cause I'm not fully sure. That's just what I was recommended by some true computer geeks/geniouses.
The standard VBR options provided with Media Jukebox however should also provide pretty good encoding as they are preset parameters.
Just choose which quality - size compromise you want and go for it.
The best sfv program I have found in terms of ease of use is this one: pdsfv which can be found here:
http://pdsfv.isonews.comI dont think they work if you have spaces in your file names however which is where cdtag comes in useful as it will replace all spaces with underscores.
It'll take you a little bit of playing to get used to cdtag and sfv files but in the end it's worth it.
Main reason I discovered this is my FAT table got messed up, I then had to use a recovery program to scan every inch of my hard drive to find all my files. It found tons but I had no way of checking that all the files it found were complete. For the ones with .sfv files I could check and I deleted the ones that were messed up.
If you want an easy life just rip and encode and u'll have a good quality set of mp3 files.
If you want a perfect collection that you can check to make sure it's not corrupted at any time put the extra effort into the .sfv's.
Either way, ripping your own mp3's is always fun and a good learning experience, especially playing with other formats too to test them.
U might possibly even want to consider using ogg vorbis for your collection instead of mp3. It means it wont be as shareable but from everything I hear the quality is superior.
Just play around a bit before u start doing the full collection. At the end of the day, the best rip is the one that sounds best to you yourself.
Try ripping in a few formats, with a few different parameters and see what u think of the produced file sizes and the sound of the files.
Enjoy!