iPhone sync recommendation - quality/size balance

[aag]

What are the best practices syncing a large library to an i-device?

I'm space constrained (e.g. I have to exclude parts of the library), but a bit of a sound snob, so don't go below 190kbps vbr mp3 (ideally, would like to go up from that). So looking for the ways to optimize without compromising on the quality.

1. i wonder, if my current choice of codec (mp3) is the optimal one for size.
2. what is the best approach to artwork when performing the iPhone sync? Is there a way to remove it from the file, but still make it available for the album with a folder image? Not sure if iPhone will look for metadata anywhere other than in the track itself?
3. When encoding to mp3, I assume "0 - Highest quality/very slow" will also result in the smallest size?

Any other advice is welcome.

[Lowlander]

You can tell MediaMonkey to embed or save Art externally for Synced files: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... .0#Tagging

As far as format, I'd suggest do what sounds good to you. Quality is relative as other factors like headphone play a factor. You could try M4A and see which filesize/quality you prefer. You can convert locally with some test files, before doing a Sync with new Auto-Conversion settings.