Been researching for about a month on putting my music collection in MP3 files and purchasing an Ipod to enjoy them on the go. I have read that Lame encoding is a must for good quality. Can I move a Lame encoded music file to itunes to load in an Ipod with out any change or should I use a different music software for the task ? I don't see any way to move an Lame MP3 to itunes.

10cc, what you want to do is not difficult and works well. I rip with EAC, encode with LAME, manage my music with iTunes, and play them on an iPod Nano. iTunes and iPods handle mp3's, whether encoded by LAME or otherwise, just fine.

After you have created your mp3's, save them or copy them to your music folder. Then, in iTunes, click on "File" and choose "Add folder to library." Browse to the folder you want to add and double-click on it. Once you have added it to your library, it will appear in the music list of iTunes. It is as easy as that.

To keep everything organized in iTunes and on the iPod, I store my mp3's like this:

\...\music\artist\album\track number - track title

Hope this is helpful.

I was worried that itunes would somehow change the file if imported because it does not offer Lame as an encoder .If not I guess I'm all set to get started. Many Thanks!!!