Expert: Charles Worrall - 11/5/2009

Question
Hello,
I have almost 1200 albums in my iTunes library and love music... but am by no means an "audiophile".  When downloading CDs to iTunes, I have my settings to convert to Mp3 (without VBR) at 256kbps.  Is this the "best" way to download?  Should I be using AAC for better quality? Or should I stick w/ Mp3 but use VBR?  Or neither!?  I definitely want to be able to have the ability to burn CDRs from my albums in the library as well, and heard that AAC files aren't compatible w/ lots of CD players... soo...

OK, sorry for the barrage of questions!  Thanks for the help!

Answer
Hey Greg, I am not a expert on sound quality but I will see what I can say.
For overall sound AAC is better, this is Advanced Audio Coding and is what comes after MP3. Better sound at similar bit rates. It is true that a lot of CD players cannot play AAC but this is growing over time- Almost all mp3 player devices can play AAC. I would say use MP3, the quality loss is not great and only way to know is if your looking for it.
Like I said before, this is not my area so I hope I could shed some light on your issue.