What do you use for Wav -> Mp3 conversion?

[Trevoire520]

I've got a program called Switch for converting file formats. Is a bit slow but works fine for me.

There's loads of file converters out there. Go to Download.com and have a look.

 

[Airborne]

iTunes works perfect for me.

 

[lekteri]

CDex is the best.
http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

 

[006]

iTunes.

 

[Damian B]

I use Audacity. Free and simple.

 

[16S]

exactly, Audacity = fuckin easy!

 

[slashvanyoung]

Don't you have to import a track in Audacity first?

I like converters which you can simply use via the context menu. It doesn't get any easier than this. Don't like iTunes...

And most free converters use LAME anyway, so the quality is virtually the same with the same settings.

 

[16S]

yes you do bit not a major deal. I started using this years ago when the LAme option was not readily available.

 

[16S]

...but yes via the contxt menu doesn't get much easier...providing you get tag ID options etc...

 

[Fox Mulder]

Lame Front-End is the way to go for me.

 

[jarenare]

Lame Front-End is the way to go for me.

+1

 

[Torniojaws]

I've always wondered about VBR (Variable Bit Rate) - is it the best option, and are there any disadvantages? (not being able to be played back by all codecs, perhaps?)

Some older standalone mp3 players (think 2003 and earlier ) do not understand VBR, and all that do understand VBR have a higher power drain during decoding (playback), which means shorter battery life. Other than that, there are only advantages in using VBR

Ages ago, iirc VBR did have some problems when jumping from low bitrate spots to full bitrate parts (such as from a short silence to a full-out chorus), but those bugs have been fixed something like 6-7 years ago.

Oh and if the audio data in a video file is VBR, you cannot reliably crop pieces out of the video file. The audio file will be out of sync most of the time. The only way to fix this is to export the audio track as a wave file from the full clip and replacing the original audio track with the wave one before cropping. But that's a rare case when you have to do things like that, so it won't matter to most of people

 

[DecTV]

LAME 3.98.2 with -vbr-new -V2

I use that with Exact Audio Copy and exporting in Sonar. Though without the --vbr-new switch since it's the default mode from version 3.98 on.

 

[Metaltastic]

Cool, thanks for the lowdown Juha!

 

[DecTV]

Oh and if the audio data in a video file is VBR, you cannot reliably crop pieces out of the video file. The audio file will be out of sync most of the time. The only way to fix this is to export the audio track as a wave file from the full clip and replacing the original audio track with the wave one before cropping. But that's a rare case when you have to do things like that, so it won't matter to most of people

At least Virtualdub since version 1.8.0 can handle VBR audio in video files. Just ignore the warning: "The VBR warning is still displayed by default, although it can be disabled in Preferences; turns out, some people were using it to detect files that were unlikely to play properly on their hardware players."

 

[arv_foh]

I use MAX for Mac OS. You can convert from one format to a single format, or even multiple if you wish. It uses the LAME MP3 encoder and supports FLAC as well as many other formats. You can batch, it's drag and drop, and it is FAST. Takes me only a few minutes to convert an entire album from FLAC to MP3.

 

[Torniojaws]

At least Virtualdub since version 1.8.0 can handle VBR audio in video files. Just ignore the warning: "The VBR warning is still displayed by default, although it can be disabled in Preferences; turns out, some people were using it to detect files that were unlikely to play properly on their hardware players."

Excellent

 

[darthjujuu]

CDEX.

anyone who hasn't tried it, get it right now.

it's open source freeware. i don't trust anything else and i boycott guyTunes.

it has lame built-in and can be downloaded/installed within 10 seconds.
the principal purpose of the app is for quickly and efficiently ripping CDs and converting .wavs.
it provides all the control necessary to determine optimum encoding parameters.
anyone who hasn't tried it yet should do so immediately.

AGAIN - WWW.SF.NET

 

[HeadCrusher]

Audiograbber, so basically Lame.

 

[Metaltastic]

juju, I'd say this thread is dead enough that I can inquire for details of the circumstances surrounding your sig without feeling bad