MP3 Encoding

[thisnameistaken]

I'm trying to upload candidate mixes for my band to listen to but I can't find a decent wav->mp3 converter. I've been using Winamp's diskwriter plugin with the lame codec but the best bitrate it can produce is 56kbps, there are really obvious file compression artifacts over everything.

Any better options for cheap / free?

[sdgrsr400]

Simple command-line LAME works fine with default settings for me: [url="http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php"]http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php[/url] .

Save the following as ConvertWAVtoMP3.vbs:
[code]Option Explicit

Sub Main()
if Wscript.Arguments.Count <> 1 then
Wscript.echo&#40;&#34;Incorrect command-line argument&#34;&#41;
Wscript.Quit&#40;-1&#41;
end if

Dim wav_filename &#58; wav_filename = Wscript.Arguments&#40;0&#41;
Dim mp3_filename &#58; mp3_filename = Replace&#40;wav_filename, &#34;.wav&#34;, &#34;.mp3&#34;, 1, 1, 1&#41;
'Wscript.echo&#40;wav_filename&#41;
'Wscript.echo&#40;mp3_filename&#41;

if wav_filename = mp3_filename then
Wscript.echo&#40;&#34;Input file is not .wav&#34;&#41;
Wscript.Quit&#40;-1&#41;
end if

Dim converter &#58; converter = &#34;d&#58;\software\lame3.97\lame.exe&#34;
Dim invocation &#58; invocation = &#34;%comspec% /c &#34; + converter + &#34; &#34;&#34;&#34; + wav_filename + &#34;&#34;&#34; &#34;&#34;&#34; + mp3_filename + &#34;&#34;&#34;&#34;
'Wscript.echo&#40;invocation&#41;

Dim WshShell &#58; Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject&#40;&#34;WScript.Shell&#34;&#41;
Call WshShell.Run&#40;invocation, 8, true&#41;
'WScript.Sleep&#40; 4 * 1000 &#41;
Set WshShell=nothing

'Wscript.echo&#40;&#34;done&#34;&#41;
End Sub

Call Main&#40;&#41;[/code]

change the "converter" line to the right path to the Lame exe. Then create a shortcut to the VBS in your C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\SendTo folder and you can activate a context menu Send To item on any WAV file in Windows explorer.

[wateroftyne]

I use Audacity and the LAME codec. Google it... It's free.

[jmesa]

iTunes

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='sdgrsr400' post='714560' date='Jan 16 2010, 04:55 AM']Simple command-line LAME works fine with default settings for me: [url="http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php"]http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php[/url] .

Save the following as ConvertWAVtoMP3.vbs:

...

change the "converter" line to the right path to the Lame exe. Then create a shortcut to the VBS in your C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\SendTo folder and you can activate a context menu Send To item on any WAV file in Windows explorer.[/quote]

Neat I like that. Thanks.

[Sharkfinger]

[url="http://eusing.com/CDRipper/CDRipper.htm"]http://eusing.com/CDRipper/CDRipper.htm[/url]

This simple little program is much more than a CD extractor, it encodes WAVs to other formats as well. Have used this for many years for all my simple MP3 encoding jobs.

The ID tagging is also fairly simple and easy to use. Audacity can be a bit inflexible with that.

It's free as well, which is nice.

Edited January 18, 2010 by Sharkfinger

[Dodge]

I'm pretty sure CDEX can encode WAV's to mp3 using Lame.

[51m0n]

foobar2000 can do conversions from to anything - it front ends Lame for mp3s really nicely....

Although being a coder I too prefer CLI lame (really nice to drive it with a simple bash script to do the same as the aforementioned)

[Bloodaxe]

+ 1 for [url="http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/"]CDex[/url]

Another useful one is [url="http://www.formatoz.com/"]Format Factory[/url] - converts a bucketload of media types into a shedload of others.

Both 100% Freeware.

Pete.

[MoonBassAlpha]

CDex works but does give you rather too much choice if you don't know what half the stuff is.
It does OGG Vorbis too! (Clue - it's NOT Lithuanian porn)

[iamapirate]

iTunes for the win! It solves all musical problems.... don't question me on that.

[51m0n]

[quote name='iamapirate' post='719201' date='Jan 20 2010, 04:20 PM']iTunes for the win! It solves all musical problems.... don't question me on that.[/quote]

Errrr not.....

[iamapirate]

oh and yah, itunes will do wav--> mp3 almost automatically if you set your encoder to mp3 and try to import a wav into itunes.

[jim_bass]

[quote name='iamapirate' post='719201' date='Jan 20 2010, 04:20 PM']iTunes for the win! It solves all musical problems.... don't question me on that.[/quote]

+1 for itunes - easy peasy and free.

[john_the_bass]

Definite;y iTunes - you can set the bitrate you want it to convert to from 16 up to 320 kpbs