Ripping Audio CD - Changing VBR does not affect file size

Binary package hint: rhythmbox

I navigated to edit - preferences - music player preferences. Then I chose the preferred format: CD Quality MP3.

Then, I chose to edit the preferred format.

This was the default command line:

audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc mode=0 vbr-quality=6 ! id3v2mux

I ripped a CD using this setting. Then I changed the setting to:

audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc mode=0 vbr-quality=2 ! id3v2mux

So, the variable bit rate quality was changed from 6 to 2. I expected the size of the files to change accordingly. However, the ripped files have exactly the same size. The bitrate of the mp3-files is in both cases 128 kbps for each and every file.

My conclusion: The lame settings cannot be changed. The audio-files are ripped with a constant bit rate, not a variable bit rate.

I think this is a bug, because if you let the user edit the quality settings, then the changes should have an effect. Furthermore, the default settings for lame in CD-quality should be reasonable, i.e. the recommended settings, namely a virtual bit rate (not a constant bit rate) and the quality setting should be transparent, i.e. VBR-quality=2 or 3!

Here's my reference:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME

Well, otherwise I am very pleased with rhythmbox! The GUI is beautiful and straight-forward. I appreciate your work a lot and hope that this bug report may help you improve rhythmbox even more. Editing the gstreamer command lines (right expression?) is pretty geeky, but I guess this is brand new and your still working on it!

Regards,

kikl

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: 6a2e5947a2547266fcb426f702f7b105
CheckboxSystem: daed2f3d6643b4a84b4520a2427f8c2b
Date: Sat Feb 20 18:38:51 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/rhythmbox
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: rhythmbox 0.12.5-0ubuntu5.2
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-19.56-generic
SourcePackage: rhythmbox
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-19-generic x86_64