which is better?

[ciampolo]

Hello, I am somewhat new to the P2P world. I am using the windows xp on a dell 4700c. I use limewire and it works ok much of the time. My question is, which download is better? Specifically, for instance, I want to download a particular mp3. The same mp3 is listed a number of times at different sizes and bitrates.
I might download one mp3 at a size of 7406Kb a bitrate of 128 and a speed of Cable/dsl. Once downloaded, this seems to play fine. But the next download on the page is the same mp3 but at a size of 8423kb a bitrate of 160 and a speed of t1 or higher. this seems to play equally as well as the first. With all these different speeds rates and sizes, which is better? I know the smallest filesize possible is desirable.

thank you

[muhctekdano]

Generally speaking, the higher the bitrate, the better the sound quality. Higher bitrates will also give you larger files. You may not be able to distinguish between the mp3s you mentioned because the bitrates are similar (mp3s range from 96 to 320 kbps I think), because the song is fairly consistent (doesn't range from quiet to loud), or because you personally just can't tell the difference.

Here's a link that I found useful:

What is bitrate?

Hope this helps

[arne_bab]

Besides: You stumbled into the Phex Forum with your question, which also is a Gnutella p2p Program, but isn't LimeWire.

Maybe that had a reason, and you should give Phex a try...

Have a nice day

[ciampolo]

Thank you muhctekdano, the Spaced Out and arne_bab, the Draketo, small dragon. I'll repost on the Limewire Forum Area. It's fairly common sensical that larger sized files are better quality but all drives have limited capacity so I thought that one should always strive to use the smallest size practicable.

Thanks again for your help

[arne_bab]

For mp3s, high quality is best.

If you want even better quality, you should search for .ogg files. Even though they are rare, their quality is much better than the quality of mp3 (and they are a really free format: http://vorbis.com/).