This is a simple listening test. Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" became the "Test Out of Hell" for the purpose of comparing audio quality for files encoded at various bitrates.
This isn't a complete version of the song. Just a few minutes to run through as a test.
The Original file was almost exactly 10 minutes. You can divide by 10 to get a MB/min idea of filesize.
The Uncompressed WAV file Test_Out_of_Hell.wav-- 99.4MB Original (Uncut)
56kb/s Fraunhofer Codec Test_Out_of_Hell_F.mp3-- 4.02MB Orig.
64kb/s WMA file Test_Out_of_Hell_64.wma-- 4.679MB Orig.
128kb/s Joint Stereo LAME Test_Out_of_Hell_128.mp3-- 9.2MB Orig.
VBR LAME (-V2 --vbr-new -q0 --lowpass 19.7 -b96) Test_Out_of_Hell_V2.mp3-- 14.79MB Orig. (Higher Quality VBR file - 192 - 320kb/s)
VBR LAME (-V5 --vbr-new -q0 --lowpass 18) Test_Out_of_Hell_V5.mp3-- 10.8MB Orig. (Lower Bitrate VBR file 128 - 160kb/s)
For low bitrates, Fraunhofer is recommended, but Windows Media Audio files are also good.
The advantage of the Variable Bit Rates is that you get your music at a higher overall bitrate than what you're paying for in terms of filesize.
You have to decide what's good enough for you. Obviously, higher bit rates sound better...but you won't get as much music on your microSD card.
Take the 10 minute cut "Bat Out of Hell" from Meatloaf.
56kb/s Frauhofer MP3 4.02 MB
64kb/s WMA 4.679 MB
128kbs LAME JS 9.2 MB
192kbs LAME JS 13.857 MB
JS=Joint Stereo
I've played around a bit and found that VBR files (Variable Bit Rate) DO IN FACT PLAY FINE on the 8600. Just watch the length of the filenames.
Using either Exact Audio Copy or Audiograbber, in conjunction with LAME,
you can wring much higher bit rates out of smaller files.
-V2 --vbr-new -q0 --lowpass 19.7 -b96
That's taking Meatloaf's 99.4MB .WAV file and compressing it down to 14.7MB
It shows up as a 320kb/s file, but much of the audio is actually encoded at lower rates.
-V5 --vbr-new -q0 --lowpass 18
Yields a 10.8 MB file