Eamon,

Good work on eliciting a reaction from all of the members!!!!

FWIW..i started with 10GB....ripped all of my CD's at 64 kps in WMA..thought it was great having all this music in one source..till i did an A/B test against the original CD...ugh...

Then re-ripped everything at 128kps WMA...OMG..all my harddrive space was gone!!!

Added another 10GB (thanks again, Paul!)...filled that up!

Swapped out a 10er for a 20er (Paul..thanks again!) and now have 30GB....

so now i can rip all of my 'B' list CD's and archive them on the Empeg....

I tried 196ish WMA but the Empeg had problems reading them (lots of pops and other artifacts)

I drive a Miata (My It's A Tiny Automobile) which is a reference for road noise....point being that I am fine with my old 128 rips but will do any additional at 160ish.

And finally..storage space is like ammunition and fuel...you can never have too much of it!

Good luck with your new toy!

Ed