11-26-2004, 04:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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What Bit Rate Do You Rip Your CD's In?
Yesterday we had the survey about what format people use to rip in (WMA, MP3, etc.) and now we come to the question of bit-rate. The higher the bit rate, the higher the quality of the audio playback - but every codec is capable of differing levels of quality at the same bit rate, so one size does not fit all. Once you factor in headphones/speakers, and the auditory canals of the person listening, bit rate becomes an intensely personal choice.
Myself, I started out years ago ripping in MP3 format, at 128 kbps - likely because it was the default. Then a few months later when I realized how insanely cool it was to have all my music on my computer all at once, I switched to using Audiograbber and the Xing MP3 encoder (I had to pay for both - the "old days" were expensive!) using 160 kbps VBR. I kept that quality setting and those programs for quite a long time, until I switched over to using WMA 160 kbps CBR. Now and then I'll bump it to 190 kbps, but other than a brief 60 day foray back into the seedy MP3 world, I've stuck with 160 kbps WMA for quite a while.
So I'm curious, what bit rate do you usually rip your CDs at, and why? What shaped that decision? And has that changed over the past year or two? I'm not asking about CBR and VBR because that would make far too many options. If I didn't list your exact bit rate, just pick the one closest to what you rip at.
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