What is Bit Rate in MP3?

What is the ideal bit rate to fit more songs on an mp3 player without losing too much of the quality?

• I just DL'd a bit rate converter but before i go wasting my time shooting out random bit rates to find a decent ratio, i was hoping for some input from you guys. any input (thorough, non-silly input that actually tries to answer my question,) would be appreciated.

• Answer:

  128 is NOT CD quality. None are CD quality as CD's don't use compression. 128 is acceptable and used to be the gold standard for mp3 bitrates on file sharing networks but now many have gone for higher quality 192 and even 320kbps MP3's. It's all about what you prefer, what you can stand. Everyone's tastes are different. Try 128, 112 and 96. Just one song and compare. If it sounds fine at 96, convert them all and load 'er up! Also, how well your bit rate converter works has an effect. Not all 128kbps MP3s were created alike! It all depends on what the compression settings are. If you have the horsepower and the time, you could set the thing to put out a pretty high quality 128kbps MP3 but most prefer to be able to convert their files in a timely manner and this has an effect on the quality of the resulting file. Just something to keep in mind!