PLEASE people. I'm a longtime music lover, and hate to hear EXCELLENT music turned into trash!
When "ripping"...encoding...whatever you want to call it...please allow the software you are using to set the sampling levels automatically, if it has such a feature and I think the default on all of them is automatic. When you see a "level meter" etc. on the Winamp equalizer window, for instance...a properly ripped mp3 will be so that the highest level in the entire recording just barely reaches the top. When you don't know what you're doing, and you think you're doing the right think by boosting this level so that all the meters zoom right to the top...and stay there...you are RUINING the mp3!! Whenever a recording is ripped at this level, it means that all of the music that is now "above" the top of the meter...is "clipped"...REMOVED...not heard! This results in the "kkkkkkkkk" sound...the high-pitched kacking and hissing that wasn't part of the song to begin with and now ruins it. I just attempted to download Avril Lavigne and somebody has attempted to rip excellent tunes at 192 bitrate, but has pushed the level into the stratosphere so that half the music is clipped out and it sounds like crap...in a vain/stupid attempt at increasing volume. I've been trying to find Cardigans "Erase-Rewind" and "Deuce" for YEARS and can't find unclipped rips. PLEASE...learn how to use proper leveling...or use the "automatic" mode. And then use "VOLUME"...for more volume!