~150kbps bit-rate should be OK. Let me suggest something that will seem like it’s out of left field here, but just so all the bases are covered bear with me . . .
You mentioned you got a new player and it’s skipping as well. We hear this “skipping” problem fairly frequently here, and believe it or not 9 times out of 10, it’s because the user does not have the head/earphone plug fully seated into the headphone jack.
The headphone jack (particularly on brand new units) is sometimes very tight, and one must sometimes push and twist the plug at the same time to get it all the way into the jack. The other 1 out of 10 times the cause for skipping audio is a too low of a bit-rate (like 64 or even 32kbps). Since your files seem to be above this, either your headphone plug isn’t all the way in, or there’s another cause we haven’t encountered on this forum yet.
Indulge us and try to see if your head/earphone plug will go any further into the jack (bear down and twist; you won’t break it) and if that helps your issue.
