Encoding question

Cloysterpeteuk

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I've been planning on buying a 20gb ipod for a few months now but I have a query about the bit rate of mp3 files. I have been using itunes for a couple of weeks now in preparation of getting a player and as such have put most of my collection over from cd @ 128k mp3, unfortunately 128k is the best quality I can use otherwise the 20gb would run out of space. However, in the future I may upgrade to a higher capacity model giving me the room to use higher bit-rates. In the above scenario I would likely go from 128k to 192k, so could I just get the 128k file and re-encode it @ 192k, using right click then the convert to mp3, or would re-importing it from a cd result in a better quality file?.

Basically when lower bit rate files are re-encoded at a higher bit does the quality actually improve?, or is the quality 'preset' when it comes off cd, regardless of it's bit rate. Thanks for your help and apologies for the confusing way I have of putting things.
 
The quality is 'preset' (as you put it) when the music is encoded from CD. If you wanted better quality from your mp3s, you would need to re-encode the music from your CDs at 192kbps in order to gain a difference. Changing from a 128kbps to a 192kbps file will make no difference apart from it will take more room, but taking it from a CD again (which has a higher bit-rate) will make a difference.
 
Rather than use mp3, think about AAC. You'll get the sound quality equivalent to mp3 at 160kbps by using AAC at 128kbps. The files are also considerably smaller in physical size.
 

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