[redondo]

I am new to burning music CD's. I got an external firewire Yamaha burner and a 500 mhzimac. When you download MP3's they come in different bit rates, usually 96 to 196 kbs. Iknow that in listening to MP3's the higher the bit rate (or the least compression) will result inhigher music quality. Now, if I want to burn music (not MP3's) CD's would the same principle appy? To burn music CD's from MP3's, do I need to have high MP3's bit rates (or thesmallest compression) to get good CD quality sound? Or, could I have high compressed MP3's and still get good quality music CD's?
Any advice would help. Thanks.

[starman]

redondo,
First off, you're ripping music from CDs, not burning them. You burn CDs when you're making them.

I found that 128kps is pretty common, but lately there's been a surge of 320kps MP3s out there. You're going to have to listen to 128 vs. 320 vs. a real CD to make the decision for yourself if you can tell the difference. I've heard artifacting at 128, and personally I rip at 192, but I've been thinking about moving to 256. 320 is overkill IMHO.

Mike

[Chuck_star]

When burning a CD try to use all the same bit rates so the sound doesn't fluctuate. You are correct in assuming higher bit rates have better sound (provided they are encoded using the same source media and encoder). I use 192kps - a good balance of excellent sound and decent size. 128kps is alright though.[/LIST]

[TheBum]

I run OS X and find the combination of 192 kbps and the LAME encoder give me the best results. The Fraunhoffer encoder built into iTunes always sounded too "heavy" or "muddled" to me, at least at 192 kbps.

[Cipher13]

Don't post the same thing in multiple forums.