Are you encoding music at a higher bitrate?

Since the inception of the MP3 format, hard drive capacities have increased to the point where terabyte systems no longer require arrays of hard drives in excess of ten drives. While 128kbps encoding has been the norm for most, have increasing hard drive capacities driven you to encode your music at a higher bitrate, 160kbps or higher?

asked Sep 23 '10 at 10:34

Patch
16●1●1●4

10 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

3	I have got 4 TB worth of flac on my computer, as I prefer flac to mp3. Full lossless FTW! answered Sep 23 '10 at 15:11 Ben Grant 2.0k●3●13●36 1 what sort of computer is that? :L (Sep 25 '10 at 09:56) Tim Fontana A computer with many hard drives. (Oct 12 '10 at 14:59) Ben Grant

Dark Side of the Moon is a great album, but it's definitely not one for testing audio fidelity. In it's time, yes it was an amazing production, but lacks in the low end. If you really want to give your speakers/ears a run for their money, try a few of these more modern recordings:

-Mezzanine by Massive Attack, -Lifeforms by the Future Sound of London, -Watch the Ride by Skream, -Lateralus by Tool, -F#A# (Infinity) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, -Butter by Hudson Mohawke, -Super Ape by Lee "Scratch" Perry, and -2001 by Dr. Dre.

That's a comprehensive list, the first that come to mind in their respective genres. There is really no album by any artist that contains all forms of sound, all in high fidelity, but these albums I've listed here definitely excel in their fields. Masterpieces of audio production, and all excellent music to boot. Enjoy!

answered Sep 24 '10 at 03:44

Zlpha
4.6k●52●78●127

edited Sep 24 '10 at 03:53

There's a Mobile Fidelity Gold CD version that's far better quality than a CD. CD's are often engineered to sound louder, but that doesn't mean better. I'm not saying the albums you listed aren't good quality, but don't underestimate the superb sound engineering made with Dark Side of the Moon ;)

(Sep 24 '10 at 04:09) Alekz

yes, I've heard it before

(Sep 24 '10 at 21:40) Zlpha

i have most of mine encoded at the full 320kbps. i plan to convert then to flac once my laptop gets back from repair

answered Sep 23 '10 at 10:37

Tim Fontana
12.8k●126●177●321

Convert to flac? I'm pretty sure Lossy to Lossless doesn't work. Unless you mean re-ripping your collection as flac.

(Sep 24 '10 at 08:48) jw0nn0

oh, i don't think i will bother if i have to re rip since about 20% is torrented

(Sep 25 '10 at 09:55) Tim Fontana

I have begun using 320kbps as well. Now if iTunes and ISPs were scaled to have massive music libraries (20k songs +), it would all work out.

answered Sep 23 '10 at 11:09

themoderngeek
656●9●14●21

Used to rip all the songs for 4 radio stations at 384K at 96000 to put on the computer for on-air use.

(Sep 25 '10 at 12:05) PhoobarID

0	I find 256kps is the sweet spot for me! Even when importing from a cd that seems fine. answered Sep 23 '10 at 11:31 keving31 16●2

0	192kbps is the best for me, quality and storage, I couldn't differ between a ripped 192kbps mp3 song and the original CD audio. answered Sep 23 '10 at 12:07 satriyo 1

0	I stream with Spotify Premium at 320 kbps :) (they use OGG). answered Sep 23 '10 at 13:15 alexteg 76●4

0	Try listening to Dark Side of the Moon on 128kbps, then try on FLAC. There's a HUUUUUGE difference for the ones who care ;) If it has to be MP3 I stick to the highest: 320kbps. answered Sep 23 '10 at 19:53 Alekz 2.7k●5●20●49

0	320kbps, I have the space so I see no reason not to. answered Sep 24 '10 at 03:50 Xiro 4.2k●29●44●95

0	I don't since all my music I listen to is on Spotify, or on-line and there some on my laptop 320kbps. answered Sep 25 '10 at 05:47 Viper92Z 876●4●11●20

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