Opinions of Smaller Audio Files for iPOD

KK, I looked on Google for what the smallest file could be, and it said that the most efficient type of iPOD-compatible file type is mp3. Has anyone tried lowering the bitrate of an audio file before? On one site, it said it's ill-advised to go below 128. So, if any of you have lowered the bitrate, did you notice a difference in quality? The highest bitrate I have is 320, and the lowest seems to be ...32 (honestly didn't know it could go down that low. I can't listen to the quality right now, roomie is asleep and I have no headphones, so I'll post my results in the morning).
That said, for those who thought lowering the bitrate was fine, do you have any preferred program to adjust it? I say preferred not because I don't wanna look, but rather if anyone thinks a certain program is better. I do possess the ability to search (as proven earlier), but want to know if there are any preferable programs before I begin downloading.
On a side note, most of my music is downloaded, so re-ripping it from a CD won't work. If it would, I wouldn't have started this.

It's hard for many people to hear the difference between 128 and 320. Heck, I know people who can't hear the difference between a 320kbps .mp3 and a 1411kbps .wav song.

Replying to #2

Even with decent headphones/earbuds?NOT RELATED AT ALL: http://mp3ornot.com/index.php

lower bitrate means lower quality. Whether you can tell the difference or not depends on the person.

Going higher bit rates tend to be harder to tell a difference for some, if not, most people. Going down lower than 128kb is more noticeable.iTunes can adjust bitrates by the way, I don't really adjust bit rates so that's all I know. Audacity can do the same thing via a plugin to export mp3s but that's mainly an audio editing tool.

I tend to use LAME but its a commandline tool.

Audacity can use LAME, it's got a plugin for it (as far as I remember)

The difference between even 128 and 112 is negligible in audible quality, and yet, can save you some space. I encode all of my videos with 112 bitrate as AAC. Not sure if it's apples to apples, but that small change cuts down the size some.

darkrequiem · #3Even with decent headphones/earbuds?NOT RELATED AT ALL: http://mp3ornot.com/index.php

lol decent earbuds

so any special recommendations, or just pick which one i like?

Replying to #10

I don't see how it really matters. A regular 320kbps song is like, 8-10mb. I don't think anybody listens or needs to have more than 3000 songs on their iPod.

Replying to #11

If you want to add video as well then every MB matter.

I recomend FLAC audio. I don' t know if it matters that much to you though since you can't notice the difference between 320 kbps and 128... (I notice the difference and after listening to flac I regret ever using .mp3

darkrequiem · #3NOT RELATED AT ALL: http://mp3ornot.com/index.php

Only three songs, answers don't change.

i'm only using shitty ipod headphones, i'd imagine the difference would be more noticeable with a decent set of 'phones

FLAC isnt anywhere near as widely supported, and the filesizes are much higher.

Lephantome92 · #1KK, I looked on Google for what the smallest file could be, and it said that the most efficient type of iPOD-compatible file type is mp3. Has anyone tried lowering the bitrate of an audio file before? On one site, it said it's ill-advised to go below 128. So, if any of you have lowered the bitrate, did you notice a difference in quality? The highest bitrate I have is 320, and the lowest seems to be ...32 (honestly didn't know it could go down that low.

[color=navy]I have tried most of the different file types and I moved to using mp3 because most devices use that as their bitrate and just in case I need to swap or move files between such things. But I also noticed a significant difference when I lowered the capacity as well, may be others' ears are not quite as sensitive, but like others said anything below 128 loses quality.

Lephantome92 · #1That said, for those who thought lowering the bitrate was fine, do you have any preferred program to adjust it?

I use WinAmp as a second option, or just use whatever the heck you can find.