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absolutely tell the difference between a CD and a 192kbps rip of the same music, in a clean environment. However, in my car, or walking around with headphones, where there's lots of ambient noise to overcome, it doesn't matter much, which is why they're so great for portability.

Precisely, Adam. The portability of MP3s is quite nice, and yes - most of the time the ambient noise will drown out the obvious imperfections of the audio file.

On my home stereo, I can play for you a Boards of Canada RECORD, CD, and MP3. You can hear a significant difference between them when compared, especially if you crank the volume.

Yeah, it also is worth noting, that this whole conversation is meaningless unless you specify what you are playing your music on. If its KLH, or some Funkatronics-Roadmaster Siedschlag piece of shit stereo bought from a Pamida then its all crabby patties. I don't know much about "real" stereo's but I know they exist and you have to build them yourself online w/like auctioned tube amplified recievers and shit... no built in tuners here, thats all I know. Basically you want to hear what the engineers (like launch-pad-Mcweston here) intended you to hear and heard themselves. How to accomplish that best.... i bet 90 bit sample rate on 1st generation mp3 on a nice, tube-powered, british speaker driven.. hi end home stereo would sound fine... not near perfection... but fine just the same. This type of heated debate is whats missing from Justablip.... _________________________________________________________________ Let the new MSN Premium Internet Software make the most of your high-speed experience. http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=byoa/prem&ST=1