For example, an MP3 made at 192 kilobitswith the Xing encoder, available in the popular AudioCatalyst package, willsound better than a Fraunhofer MP3 made at 128 kilobits. But there's nopoint in going any higher than 192 kilobits. People planning on playing their MP3s on portable devices should be mindfulof file size. These players can't yet hold a lot of data. But for everyoneelse, it makes sense not to skimp on sound quality.
Drives are gettingbigger almost daily.
Hang on to your CDs, though, until you see what's coming down the road. New,post-MP3 encoding systems are expected to hit the market in coming months. Their principal advantage will be that they will encode music in smallerfiles than MP3s. Here again, there are good,better and best approaches. The simplest method is to play your MP3 filesthrough your PC speakers.