How do your compress your music?

[Phantom Noodler]

I suppose this could be considered a poll of sorts. :P

What method of encoding do you use for your CD's? What file type? What bit-rate? Do you use CBR, VBR, etc.?

I'm having trouble on deciding on how to get the closest possible quality I can to CD-Quality *without* using a lossless codec.

mp3

192 kbps and up!

i use Easy CD-DA Extractor to grab them

[JohnE.]

You can't go wrong with RazorLame using --alt-preset standard or --alt-preset extreme.

From LAME's command line help:

For VBR modes (generally highest quality):

"--alt-preset standard" This preset should generally be transparent to most people on most music and is already quite high in quality.

"--alt-preset extreme" If you have extremely good hearing and similar equipment, this preset will generally provide slightly higher quality than the "standard" mode.

JohnE.

Exact Audio Copy with the LAME encoder (MP3) set to 192 kbps, VBR. That and for my Net MD, Sony's ATRAC3 set to 132 kbps. Both work well for me. And going from 192 kbps MP3 to 132 kbps ATRAC3 doesn't sount bad.

[cunokyle]

Exact Audio Copy using the Lame mp3 encoder(both are free)...I get amazing results...I will set it at 320 kbps if I am going to be recording the songs to a cd...I can not tell the difference between the original and the copied.

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
and
http://www.mp3dev.org is wherer you can download Lame from

[Gait_Keeper]

music match platimnum edtition
VBR @ 100%

I have a seperate buner for CD to CD copying, music match will burn MP3 to CD without much loss

I backing up my entire vinyl and CD collection

[Telexen]

Exact Audio Copy --r3mix

[Germ]

mp3......grip using the blade encoder.

[wapazoid]

Exact Audio Copy
LAME 3.90.3 (--alt-preset standard)

To be honest, I can't distinguish the difference between standard and insane, though I'd suggest the insane preset for those paranoid audiophiles out there. 3.90.3 has been tweaked and tested quite well.

It's really a shame that Musepack has ceased development (atleast that's the rumor for now), because MPC (--quality 7 --xlevel) was my ultimate lossy choice. You just can't go wrong with a natively gapless format...not to mention it's better than mp3 at higher bitrates.

[Gait_Keeper]

Still using music match VBR @ 100%

most MP3's ccome out in between 190 and 210 bitrate


I use NTI burning software for data backs, thing about getting alcohol 120%