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[Jakester]

There are a lot of threads in this forum about audio codecs and I've read a lot of 'em.  But below are a few focused questions that I haven't found clear answers for.

Some background: My entire library (10K files) was ripped from CD using secure rip and losslessly encoded to .ape.  I plan to create an .mp3 version of this library for use in an iPod.  I plan to use a 60GB iPod Video as a way to take a large chunk of my library with me when I travel.  In particular I'm building up a pretty decent mobile sound system (~2K worth of head unit/amps/subs/speakers - not extreme but pretty decent) that I want to feed via the iPod.  I'm sure that 128kbps CBR MP3 is not good enough - I can hear the artifacts at this setting on anything but cheap boomboxes.  192kbps probably not good enough either.  I'm assuming VBR averaging around 256 would be in the ballpark.  Since I'm currently building the mobile sound system I can't test this, but that's my gut feel, and I want to get started on creating my .mp3 library.

1) MC offers several canned VBR LAME options.  How much of a difference in sound quality between "High" and "Extreme"?  What's the average bit rate of these settings?  (I know these are not ABR settings, but there has to be some general trends here in relative average bit rates for mainstream music types.)  I assume via iPod - no matter how nice the rest of the system - it would be hard to tell the difference between these?

2) How much faster is the "Fast" option and what are the encoding penalties?  Is "Extreme" with 'Fast' still better than "High" without it?  Is "High" with 'Fast' still better than "Normal" without it?

3) Will iPod Video play back all of these VBR options?

I know about Hydrogen Audio and all that stuff.  I would rather not dig that deep!  I hope to tap into the collective knowledge of those of you that have and get specific answers here.  I just want to pick the best canned MC LAME option and run with it.  However, considering my intended use, if there are manual settings I can type in that are significantly better than any of the canned options I'm open to that.  And I'm also open to Alex B's suggestion in another thread to use the lastest Go (sp?) encoder that is apparently MUCH faster and close in quality.

Hoping for some specific suggestions!

[Matt]

Gogo is several times faster than LAME.  If you're doing on-the-fly, I'd recommend it.

iPod should play any MP3 that MC makes.

If you're doing a one time shot, let your computer run overnight using LAME.  I probably wouldn't pick "Fast mode" since time doesn't really matter in this case.

I think the best quality would be LAME locked at 320 kbps but this wastes a lot of space for minimal gains.  You'll be quite happy with "High" or "Extreme".

If you ever come through Minneapolis, you should stop and give a ride once it's all pulled together

[Jakester]

Sounds good - I'll probably use "High" without the fast option since, as you say, it can run overnight (or several nights as the case may be).

It'd be tough to swing by with the sound system - it's going on a boat that's on a lake here in the midwest.  I know there's no way to tell the difference between the various .mp3 formats while the engine is running, but most of the time on the lake is spent anchored with the tunes going.  I can't wait for it to warm up a bit more - another few weeks and I'll start boating.

[marcates]

You may want to read the Radified Guide to Ripping and Encoding CD Audio.  It discusses this with some detail and links you to more resources.

http://mp3.radified.com/