MP3 Encoding and Portable HD Players

[Giant Rabbit]

I might be ripping a lot of MP3s soon for my new Hard-drive player (HD5) but I was wondering whether in general, it matters at all as to what program you use to rip MP3s. How much do Encoders effect music quality at the same bitrates of MP3? Do HD players take on the batton of quality or do they all decode it to another standard?

I usually use CDex 1.5 which uses a LAME encoder (though they may be a new Lame Encoder out since then). Also, if one wishes to use the latest version encoder (eg LAME 3.97), can they install the codec and automatically have the older programs ripping with the new version codec?

[pjskel]

LAME is considered the best MP codec, but don't use VBR. Makes the MP3 player work harder, which draws more from the battery. How much I'm not sure, but it does, as does equalisers, backlight, and constant searching track skipping, which I'm sure you already know.
iTunes use LAME, IIRC for MP3s, as well as the open source AAC format. As the HD5 only decodes MP3, then stick with that at 192, normal stereo (not joint), 44.1 Khz, smart encoding, filter freqs below 10 Hz enabled.
Do that for a few of well known track, and compare with CDex for the same ones. Choose different music types rather than all the same, then you'll get a good idea sa to which works best for them all or certain types of music.

[shadowritten]

And remember, the better the rip, the better the encoding. People often forget that two processes make up MP3 making: digital rip, then digital encode. Once again, it's back to my combination of choice - Exact Audio Copy with LAME encoding. Widely regarded as the very best, if the pros on the Net are to be believed ...