Hi Tony , thanks for your advise. I don't know yet what the problem causes. Is it the ripping or the encoding. I feel that it might not be the ripping , because pop's and klick noises are very very rare. The reason why I am looking for better ripping / encoding software , is that the music sounds not ''clean" , there is extra noise and it's not "a live" , sparkling. Know what a mean ?? That's why I thought , maybe I should use CBR highest setting instead of VBR highest setting. Don't know if this is right , but I will try a few albums and see. Let me know if you have any other tips. I will check the FAQ now . Thanks !!