File Compression

[Droptop430]

Hello,
I have been using winamp forever but recently I have bought a portable MP3 player and I was wondering how I can compress the file size of all the MP3's I have on my computer. I mostly have bitrates of 320 and that just chews up the space on my player with no real added sound quality. I can't stand the thought of re-downloading all of them again (I have about 4000 songs) Can anyone help me out with this. I know that I have used winamp to make wav. files out of MP3's there must be a way to work in reverse. Thanks in advance...

[Montana]

download CDex , besides from being an good rippper & encoder an can also re-encode, you just have to change the setting to what bitrate you want and it will re-encode the mp3. but beware that re-encoding a mp3 to a lower bitrate can lower the sound quality

[Droptop430]

thanks for the reply,
will dropping a 320 to a 192 be the same as downloading a 192 right from the start, or will I lose more sound quality doing it backwards like this? Thanks

[Montana]

if you re-encode a 320 to 192 you will lose more quality then if you download a file that was ripped & encoded to 192.

[BeerBaron]

In terms of portable MP3 players, MP3's at 160 will suffice... it sounds fine with little distortion (if you use the latest lame), has the highest compatibility since it isnt VBR, and will allow you to fit a nice ammount of music in the player. Have fun.