Off-topic: mp3 ripping bitrate

[Palit, Nilanjan]

I have been looking into how to get the most out ripping mp3 from CDs -- i.e., best tradeoff between quality and filesize. I have found, from some online research, that 256 kbps is recommended for generally decent audio quality.

For encoding, variable bitrate (VBR) encoders, like LAME based ones, provide the best bang for the buck. However, VBR encoders require settings for min and max bitrates to use.

So the question is this: should I just set it to a fixed bitrate (min==max), in which case I lose any filesize advantage with VBR encoders, or should I give the tool some leeway to make some intelligent compression where applicable by setting the min limit to a lower value? I'm interested in hearing what settings other folks on this list have used and their experiences with the resulting audio quality.

Thanks,

-Nilanjan