I dont about what is the best for SSL, but lame encoder is very good encoder, it has been thoroughly tested even with VBR. Recommended VBR settings is "--alt-preset standard", but dont use a newer version (you should stick to 3.90) because the newer ones have not been tested that inensive.

I won't use VBR. I had use for a long time , Xing at 128 Join Stereo, and now , Lame 3.93 128 at Join Stereo.
I eventually want re-encode mp3's which sources are not sure (few downloads and all I didn't create myself) for secure SSL.

I am not talking about ABR, or what is VBR at 128? Also joint stereo was indeed an issue with older encoders (who uses xing anyway? thats baaad!), check hydrogenaudio.com

I would say Constant Bit Rate , at 128 kbps ;-)

hey nik39 thanks for the site ...a lot of useful info on that forum!

320 bitrate all the way. you lose way too much audio quality if you encode at 128. and i agree....the LAME encoder is prob one of the best out there right now. i use version 3.93.1.

128 is really a bad choice, I think I can hear find out whats an mp3 and whats uncompressed audio upto 160kbit, so I wouldnt take less than 192, as said before use VBR with a highest bitrate of at least 192. Try www.hydrogenaudio.org ... it should be explained in that looong post.

Okay , but 80-90% of my mp3 are at 128 kbps cbr (and I found it sounds good).
VBR doesn't make problems on SSL ? (I've few VBR , and they don't run on SSL).

I would use LAME 3.93 to reencode bads mp3's... It will be absolutly run on SSL ?

Couin

Maybe the dev's can guarantee you that these mp3s run, I cant. If you think 128cbr sounds okay, stick to it, its your choice, you asked about our opinion, I told you what I suggest. Hope it helped you.

nik39 I am going to use the iTunes LAME Encoder plugin ...since that is what people are praising... but I want the highest quality as possible and I saw that you can edit presets ...do you have a recommendation? thanks

p.s. it is still pretty hard to leave all my WAVs and AIFFs that I have ripped but room is becoming an issue! So I am currently backing up to DVD!

I hope you mean re-encode from the original source....

There's no guarantees with encoders, LAME seems to be popular, as does the standard iTunes encoder. Your best bet would be to _try_ different things out, see if they play ok in SSL and how they sound to your ears.

I am on Mac by the way just in case..thanks again

Okay,

Thanks all ;-)

Couin