I assume that you are talking about music from CDs, so you can choose which bitrate to make the files. If the files are already in a compressed format such as mp3, then leave them as is. First of all, the Clip+ gets the longest battery life playing mp3 files, so if battery life is very important to you, then choose mp3. Memory cards are cheap now, so it makes sense to get a large capacity card to put in your player if you want plenty of music available at a high sound quality. To get good sound from the Clip+, it is important to get high quality earphones or headphones. These don’t have to be very expensive, but need to be chosen carefully. Even some $20 earphones will give great sound, while some $100+ ones sound horrible.
As for which bitrate to use, I suggest use variable bitrate mp3 averaging 192 kbps. This will give you sound quality around that of 256 kbps constant bitrate, but allow you to store 1/3 more music in the same space. At 192 kbps, you get 13.5 hours of music per GB, which is around 200 four minute songs. At 256kbps you get around 9 hours per GB, which is 135 four minute songs, and at 128 kbps you get around 18 hours of music per GB or around 270 four minute songs. You could try doing your own experimentation though, and decide if you can hear the difference using different bitrates. Years ago I did some tests and found that for me 128 kbps constant bitrate was not acceptable, 192 kbps constant bitrate sounded good but like it was missing something, 256 kbps constant bitrate sounded great, and I could not hear the difference between 320 kbps constant bitrate and 256 kbps constant bitrate. So I chose 256 kbps constant bitrate. Years ago players had problems with variable bitrate, so I avoided it. Today most players have much fewer problems than in the past with variable bitrate, so variable bitrate is now a good option. I am too lazy to rerip all my CDs. If I was starting from scratch now though, I would choose mp3 variable bitrate averaging around 192 kbps.
