[mkral]

For years, I've been ripping my CD's at 128 kbps. I just upped the bitrate to 256 kbps (AAC in both cases) & imported my first CD. There are 6 songs on the CD & the 6 songs each imported at a slightly different bitrate (246, 250, 253, 256, 257, 258). This never seemed to happen in the past, all my songs came in at 128 kbps. Did I somehow change something else in the settings when I upped the bitrate, or is this normal for 256 kbps ripping?

Thanks in advance for any help,

[Cold Warrior]

When ripping using AAC and the latest version of iTunes, the bitrate will be variable (VBR), no matter what you set it at.

Apple - Support - Discussions - Variable Bit Rate Mandatory? ...

[mkral]

Thanks for the quick reply & the link. I suppose the name (Variable Bit Rate) is somewhat obvious, but I had no idea what to look for under the itunes support page.

[Cold Warrior]

I just vaguely remembered seeing something about it on MacFixIt. I don't really bother with Apple's search function. Google plus "site:apple.com" works really well, especially while I'm suffering through dial-up while visiting family during the holidays.

[mkral]

Sweet! thanks for the tip. It's pretty amazing how slow dial-up seems to be now & yet just a few years ago, that was revolutionary. Hope you have/had a nice holidays w/ the fam.

[stburt]

just updated to latest itunes ad quicktime and the issue appears to be resolved. leave off VBR and you get the old CBR back. nice.