I'm developing an audio production tool, and I'm trying to figure out what defaults and UI choices I should make for the "choose output encoding" window. I want to output to VBR by default (and focus the interface around that), but most tools default to CBR, and I'm trying to figure out why.
Encoding your MP3s in VBR can save a massive amount of bandwidth compared to CBR, yet you can still find tons of people who aren't using it, even when bandwidth is at a premium. In particular, I haven't been able to find any podcasts that use VBR, even though it's especially suited to radio-ish stuff that mixes talk and music. This includes the top podcasts that could save tens of thousands of dollars a year on bandwidth (e.g. This American Life).
I've searched extensively online to see if I could find any disadvantages to VBR. The only thing I can find is that some older mp3 players don't support it. Has there been any widely released media player or hardware that has come out since, say, 2004, that doesn't support VBR?
