converting songs to mp3

Mr. Fusion you are simply and completely WRONG.  CD quality is NOT 128k.  Do you understand the concept of lossy compression?  Sound?

128kbps is around 11:1 compression.  You THROW AWAY 90% of the information on the original.  See Walt Crawford, MP3 and CD-Quality Sound: The Laws of Physics have Not Been Repealed, at http://home.att.net/~wcc.techx/MP3.htm.

See also Marshall Brain, How Mp3 Files Work, at http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mp31.htm ("When you are done creating an MP3 file, what you have is a "near CD quality" song. The MP3 version of the song does not sound exactly the same as the original CD song because some of it has been removed...").

I don't think anyone here said anything you should have taken offense to.  haemphyst and I were merely stating raw facts.  mp3 IS lossy.  128 ISN'T as good as 256, NO MP3 is CD quality.  Humans can tell the difference.  Humans can tell the difference in cars.  These are facts. 

You say 128 is adequate.  I strongly disagree.  It is important to remember that we can both be right.  You shouldn't be offended by my opinion.  "Good enough" to any one individual is always a subjective inquiry.  It is just like anything else.  "Overpriced" between differing products and people is a matter of opinion.  It all comes down to personal values. 

It all boils down to a "good enough" discussion.  Usually these questions, those involving personal values, boil down to income and class considerations.  I don't like to get into these discussions.  Some people have the means to buy nicer things than others, a simple fact of life.  However, you should know that just because someone enjoys better quality music doesn't necessarily mean that I drink $500 brandy.  It is possible to value certain consumables more than others.  My furniture is cheap stuff from Ikea while I have a thing for custom tailored suits.  I simply value suits more than furniture.  I'm sure you value some aspects of your life more than others.  Why be offended when someone else expresses an opinion based on their values? 

We all value high quality sound, we wouldn't be here otherwise.  Usually obtaining an increase in a material product quality involves financial cost.  We balance our subjective values against cost to make purchasing decisions.  A product is "good enough" when we reach our price limit set by our values.  Here is what I don't understand:   It barely costs a thing to increase bitrate yet people insist on using 128kbps.  This makes absolutely no sense to me.  Storage media and hard drive space is so cheap it is negligable compared to the cost of our car systems.  Why not bump the bitrate up?  It is a FREE upgrade to something we obviously value (sound quality).  But alas, even if I don't understand, it is your value-based decision to make.  You've chosen storage space over sound quality. 

Just don't blame me or others for pointing out the fact that your choice is not ideal for sound quality.

Sorry if I missed the sarcasm.  I'm bad at that.  :-)  Peace.