This is your lucky day. The best mp3 encoder out there is called 'Lame', and it is a free, DOS style encoder. It will take a little while to learn, but it is completely amazing; with pop music, I often can't tell the difference between the .mp3 and the .wav. Look it up.

If you're really looking for high quality, go for a lossless format like APE or FLAC. MP3 is so dated that it's not even funny anymore.

Here's an interesting site dedicated to Mp3. Names, reviews, links, lot's of stuff.

http://www.mp3proclub.com/main.htm

Bruce P.