(what the heck is "Gizelakian" anyway?)

You rang?

Aw... Even I don't encode that high. I would, though. But it is just too much work to re-encode everything, and I don't have the months to spare... I might have to soon, though. Most of my encodings were done on ancient software, and I am either hearing things (not having hear the original CDs for so long) or I am starting to perceive encoding flaws.

Right now, I am guessing my average music encoding rate would be about 200kbps VBR and my average audiobook rate would be about 98kbps VBR. At least for anything I encode myself.

If I were to buy individual track downloads, I would want the highest bitrate they would offer. Start with the best quality you can get, and encode down if you have to for player compatibility. I would rather get the file as FLAC or even raw WAV / PCM then have someone else encode it at too low a bitrate.

And, at that kind of price, I would rather buy the album and rip it myself. This way, I have a physical backup. This really depends on listening styles - I tend to be album driven as opposed to individual tracks.

But, then, perhaps I am just obsessive...