The bitrate you rip at should be the best possible compromise between quality and space.

Obviously, if the rip/encode sounds great at a given bitrate, there is no need to encode at a higher bitrate.

I use Exact Audio Copy, and Lame 3.92, in secure mode (I rip with a Plextor drive - hands down the best, and it reads CD+G, too), at q-2 Variable Bitrate setting. This gives me an average of about 200kbps, but I get plenty of 320kbps samples, some 160k, and some 128k...it sounds perfect to me. And I *do* hear how crappy 128k (and some 160k) sounds, BTW (it is not just a "psychological" thing, contrary to what some are saying out there. Just listen to cymbals...nasty nasty nasty at 128k!)

Drive space and Clock Speed is so cheap nowadays, that quality can be the only real consideration - so why not just rip at 320k? My main reason for not doing so is convenience in backing it all up.

Until that 1-Terabyte CD-R comes out next year, we will have to live in this reality.