I have used variable bitrates with all of my MP3's, all played without any problem.

One tip though, I would use a program like audio actalyst (or however you spell it), real audio jukebox thiny seemed to give my larger files rather than smaller ones.

To my suprise though, variable bitrates will allow you to encode with excelent results. Most of my MP3's have a bitrate range of 96 to 128, sounded better than the same track recorded at 128bit flat

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