192 kbps mp3's - should I delete them?

Well the title says the basis of my question. Asked this on another forum (so sorry if you guys find it there too, but looking for as much information as I can on the subject)

Alright. So I've done my homework, and I've really tried to read up on this subject. I know for a fact that mp3's are not "the best" file format in general, but they are one of the most readily available and decent on space usage.

As I am just getting into DJing, I'm prepping my music library at the moment. It's a crazy task, and I plan on really getting dirty with the ID3 tags and really making sense of it all.

I have a lot of music which I've mostly bought, grabbed a few tracks from friends, and downloaded some illegally in the past. (I know that's bad news, but a lot of it was when I was in college before I went out and got a "real" job). I now buy all of my music, generally settling with about 5 tracks per week so I don't kill my budget.

But my question is, I have a few songs I've downloaded/just have that are 192 kbps. I really want to keep my library semi-professional, and most places I've looked or read say 320 kbps or bust.

Now I'm talking about 2/3's of my collection. Some of the music is stuff I burned from CD's that I don't even own anymore (lost/scratched in the car/given to friends since I had copies of) before I knew what the proper bitrate was to copy over.

Should I just delete my 192kbps files and start "fresh" so to speak? Or could I get away with playing them at house parties?

I guess what I'm asking is what is the line? I'm not spinning in clubs anytime soon, I'll probably mess around on my own and bring my gear/computer over to friend's houses, but that's it for the near future.

Thoughts and suggestions?

For house parties I think 192 is gonna be alright. Maybe you could save your 192kbps not-so-legal tracks on an external device (cds, external HD, secondary HD) and just not use them for DJing. I'd recommend going for 320kbps but if you don't have any thing else then 192 is not going to get you in massive trouble. Just listen to your tracks on studio monitors or proper headphones and if it sounds good, it's good.

If you feel bad about your illegal tracks, I'd say don't DJ with them or buy them now (possibly in 320 or wav).
Good luck mate

also, you speak of 2/3's of your collection. How large is your collection?

My collection is about 3000 ish songs. Not including some stuff I have saved on an external from way back when.

I actually do plan on buying the tracks I really want and going through and getting better quality, but wasn't totally sure if the 192's could get me through in the meantime. I plan on having a full 100% legit setup, but it's difficult sifting through bad cd burns and illegal downloads and figuring out what I have bought at this point. I've been buying music for just over 2 years now, but I still have a lot of which I haven't. But a lot of that I don't listen to anyhow, so... yeah.

I've honestly needed to do a big cleanup for awhile now, and this is me getting my act together and doing it. For most tracks I can't really tell a difference on my personal setup, but that's not saying a whole ton.

I mean the logical/legal standpoint would be, delete everything that isn't high quality and I haven't bought legit. Thing is, I plan on doing this honestly, just a matter of it's a metric fuckton of cash that I don't have at the moment to replace about 2k songs.

I'd suggest you start organizing the tracks you are bound to spin first. Legit or not.
Delete any songs that you don't play/like and which aren't legit.
Its a bitch to order all those 3k tracks so maybe the best option is to just jump into it and not worry too much about the 192 tracks ;)
just my 2 pennies worth though..

I would make a smart playlist in itunes. That separates all songs under 256 kps.. (or just under 192.. ) Then listen to every track.. And all songs you dont like (and want to delete) give dem 1 star. So you can delete them from itunes later on..

You can also make a smart playlist that only have 320 mp3's...

Just my 1€ though.. I will send you my paypal link later :p (joke)

Burn em

heh I already went through and deleted everything less than 320. Never used itunes before, and seems like the tracks download at 256 (just downloaded the Tactix / Wicked So - EP). I've been a beatport fan for awhile, looks like I'm going to stick down that road.

But yeah, trying to go legit from a past history of illegal downloading is a pain in the ass, and I suspect the reason why many people don't. I've been downloading legally for awhile now... just never got to the cleanup.

On the chance someone knows, what does a bitrate tag like 192 kbps (VBR) stand for? as in... what the hell does (VBR) mean?

variable bit rate, means the bit rate changes, lower for silent parts higher for more complex parts

Ah thank you. Looks those ones will be replaced sooner than later >.<

tbh i've never noticed a real difference between the two, maybe digital and vinyl, but not the various bit rates *shrugs*