putting it at crap bitrate is not a good way to compress if you want to hear how clear the music is - if that's not what you changed, what is it then
I reduced the Bit Rate, but I kept the Sample Rate at 44100Hz. In my opinion having a good Sample Rate is better than a lower Bit Rate. It removes most background noise from the small, barely noticed instruments and keeps the larger ones at a good quality. Also it doesn't alter pitch, or has high spikes in tone. I have found this to give a heavier file size, but it does provide a mildly compressed output for 2-3 minute songs.
