So, what you're both saying is that I should probably ditch MusicMatch and get AC?

Oh no, not at all. I'm sure what you're using right now is fine. In fact, I didn't start using AC until yesterday. I like it, but I'm sure that MM is fine, too.

Your file size comparisons are a great way to go about checking the quality of your rips. Good thing to do. Choose the settings that you think are the best trade-off between quality and filesize. Then maybe do a little math to decide just how many gigs of space you'll need to store all 400+ albums.


According to the MM blurb, anything over VBR 50% won't provide noticeable improvement.

VBR is nice because it can increase the bitrate on frames that have a lot of high frequencies, then throttle back the bitrate on frames that don't need it. So in theory, if you compare a VBR file to a fixed bitrate file of the same size, you should be able to hear an improvement in the high frequencies (less swishy-ness to the cymbals on the VBR file).

But keep in mind that the "won't provide noticeable improvement" statement is probably based on the concept that your average listener can't distinguish the high-frequency artifacts that the audiophiles can. So listen carefully to your sample track comparisons and decide for yourself.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144