For my 64mb flash mp3 player, used for running, I use mp3 @96kbps CBR.  .  
96k allows me to get about 1 1/4 hours on there, enough to go running
several times before getting sick of the mix.  I've never investigated WMA,
don't see the point, plus I can automatically resample mp3 before
downloading using mmjb, can't do that with wma.  I would use mp3Pro if the
player supported it, since I don't need high fidelity for running.

For my portable mp3 cd player, I use mp3 using the LAME preset --alt-preset
standard (VBR), or sometimes --alt-preset extreme.

64K WM8 CBR.

Sounds fine to me, as you point out, what others
think DOES NOT MATTER, I am the person
who is listening to it.  Mostly in the truck, which
is not quiet enough for higher bitrates to matter.

There's a lot of variations on WMA including VBR,
but I can get puh-lenty of music on a 256M SD
card this way, and it encodes way fast using the
command line encoder, WM8EUTIL.

I generate media-independent playlists by loading
the tracks after encoding into WMP, and exporting
the playlist to a file.  Then do a search and replace
in Notepad replacing absolute drive:\pathnames with
NONE.  These will then play on any machine, regardless
of whether it's on a PPC or a desktop.

That was some cross-posting.

It depends.
Try them and see? Pick a track that you like, encode it at various
rates/formats and listen. Everyone's ears are different, as are there
expectations- experiment and find yours.

In general wma is as good as mp3 at around 1/2 the bitrate (it was designed
for audio, mp3 is a more general format). The most common mp3 rate used
seems to be 128 (wma around 64), but a lot depends on your ears and the
available space, but it seems near CD quality for general use although it
probably won't suit critical listeners.

I use OGG approximating 128kbps as I think this is the best trade off
between getting good sound and small file size.  OGG to me clearly
sounds better than MP3, but you should do your own testing.  Remember
these are lossy compression so it won't sound as good as CD on a good
home stereo system, but then again MP3 and OGG are not meant to be for
the audiophile.

Dan

A long time ago I did my first conversion to Fraunhoffer 128 CBR MP3s. Back
then there weren't really other compressed music formats to choose from.  I
noticed a lot of sections from my music collection just didn't sound right.  
A few in particular were really difficult for many codecs I tried.  Then I
went to Xing VBR.  This was better but I wasn't happy with the collection,
there were still some sections of music that had issues.

Just recently I got a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB.  I decided to re-rip
all my music again.  Before doing this, I tested the problem sections of
music.  I ended up using EAC and LAME 3.95 with -preset extreme, a high bit
rate VBR setting.  This seemed to do OK on the problem sections of music.  
Disk space isn't a huge concern because I have more than enough on the
computer and on the Nomad.

So the bit rate I picked by testing problem sections of music.  I picked
the format, MP3, because it's got the widest support of any format out
there.  Be it a flash player, a CD/MP3, or DVD player, or hard disk player,
the only format that comes close to being universally supported is MP3.

Now I've decided I want a lossless backup of my CD collection.  This gets
me three things.  The first is a backup, byte for byte, of all my music, no
loss at all.  The second is that it gives me an archive that I can use to
create any lossy / lossless format that I want, and not have to worry about
transcoding errors.  The third is convenience, not having to pump the CDs
into drives over and over again.  Point the convertor at the lossless
archive, pick your new format, and walk away.  Come back some time later to
find your new tracks in whatever format you needed.  

So far, I think I'm going to use FLAC.  It seems to have the widest support
for both software and hardware.  All I need to proceed is some more disk
space.  Once I'm done, I'll be able to generate any lossy / lossless format
I need without having to touch the CDs again. That's what I'm looking
forward to.

LAME alt preset -standard (+ -nogap when appropriate).

mp3 is universal, hence I don't use any of the other codecs.  One of
my portables will only play mp3 and wma.  I tried wma as I was
starting this game.  It's OK, but not really any good for sharing and
posting to usenet.  And, I'll go to the end of the Earth to avoid
anything associated with DRM.

LAME because it's actively developed by people who appear to know what
they are doing, snake oil not included.  I recently encoded something
using Fraunhofer at a high variable bitrate - admittedly not music -
and it was a complete disaster.  LAME did it perfectly (well, as close
as made no real difference).  alt preset -standard because it's
developed to be as transparent as possible while maintaining a
reasonable bitrate (higher rates available but only necessary for the
chronic anally retentive).

The files on my 128 meg  Nomad 2 are MP3 VBR 192 Kb, but I'd rather be
listening to .wav files with my NJB3

I use 128kbs WMA9 on a 20GB Gateway DMX 20 hd player, but reduce (where DRM
allows) to 64kbs WMA9 on a 64MB RioS10 flash player. They all sound fine to
me. I sometimes play the DMX20 through the car stereo and it sounds very
good. I might notice a difference from the original CD if I were using my
home stereo with big speakers, but I'm not. The WMA made from WMP9 is a big
improvement over other versions.

I use:

For MP3CDs (used in CD-MP3 portables, DVD players, PCs):
192Kbps CBR MP3 (w/ latest codec available in CoolEditPro2) --  I encode at
44.1, but cut the frequency response to 22.0KHz.  This gives me excellent
bass response and fidelity, while cutting tinny sounds and high frequency
noise.  Just my personal taste, but I don't enjoy hearing sounds over about
32KHz.  It hurts my ears.

For my PDA (WinCE, headphone or cassette adapter to car):
96Kbps CBR MP3 for acoustic, techno and most other music.  128Kbps CBR for
the most rapid, such as punk and thrash-bass.  I let WMP do all my encoding
for this device.

For my laptop (Wireless-G network w/ 108Mbps max, usually wired to stereo):
320Kbps VBR Streaming MP3, 44.1:22.0Khz.  I use CoolEditPro2 to encode,
XP-MediaCenterEdition or WME to host the stream.

I don't use OGG because I find it is better at treble than low end clarity.  
That's the opposite of what I want to hear.  OGG just sounds too needley to
my ears.

I avoid WMA because most DVD players and some MP3 players don't support it.

I write all my own playlists in .M3U format (video and audio) using Notepad.