I don't think WinXP reports VBR bitrates correctly (Score 1)

i just encoded a cd the other day in vbr (lame's alt preset standard) and the average bitrate of the files is between 154kbps-196kbps, yet winxp tells me that the files are anywhere between 400-500kbps, and some seem to be read as 128kbps (they're not).. so i'd say winxp probably isn't calculating the values in vbr correctly. and if my results are any indication, i'd guess your mp3s are actually encoded at somewhere around an average bitrate of 100kbps or less. at the bitrate i used, a 70-minute cd takes up about 90MB, so 2gigs is roughly 1500 minutes of music, or 375-400 4-minute songs.