In all seriousness, wma is not so portable across all OS platforms or portable mp3 players. So ... why not rip them as mp3 or m4a? Lame is the best encoder type for files between about 90 thru to 200 kbps or so. It's a type of encoder. Yes wmp = windows media player.

It's generally recommended to rip at 192 kbps or higher (& in stereo) VBR (Variable Bit Rate) depending upon the music at hand. The higher the bit rate, the more popular it will be. It may mean slightly higher file sizes but the downlder will appreciated it much more. Don't forget to put id3 tags on all the files you rip.

Some other decent players: 1. dBpowerAMP, - 2. WinAmp, - 3. Quintessential (QCD), - 4. iTunes
* Good tagging tools: http://massid3lib.sourceforge.net/

These links might also be of interest; http://www.riptastic.com/help/1.11/mp3_encoder.htm

http://www.highwaymp3.com/FAQS/music...ukebox_faq.htm

http://www.musicmatch.com/download/p...put&BTD=1&DID=

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos/

In the early days of mp3 it was recommended to rip at very low bit rates. But nowadays with larger HDD's & now reasonably large portable players, people are looking more toward quality & less worried about file size. So higher bit rates are genuinely wanted. 320 kbps is the maximum for a normal mp3. (Some allow higher but not recommended b/c not many players recognise mp3's at higher than 320.) If you see m4a files at higher than 320 kbps then they are most likely apple lossless formats, similar to APE/Monkey lossless or FLAC.

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