mp3 ripping, econding, decoding software

[e13c7r0n]

I know this threat belong somewhere else, but since I'm the proud owner of a 200A5, and I feel like we're all family, in this forum, I wanted to ask you all the following:

What software do you currently use for enconding, ripping, and decoding mp3s?

I'm looking for an inclusive package that can do all of them.

What do you all recommend?

Thanks in advanced for all your help.

Adolfo

[pdxflyboy]

dBPoweramp is the best ive used. check it out

[dang]

I'm biased towards RealOne Player since I work at Real, but there is a slew of applications you can use.
WinAmp
MusicMatch
WindowsMedia Player (If you buy their media upgrade pack, otherwise you are stuck with windows media encoding[yuck])

If you want something light I would just go with WinAmp.
If you want something that can catalog and have a "Library" then go with MusicMatch or RealOne Player.

[ToddBradley]

I use J. River's Media Jukebox. I've tried all the others (except dBPoweramp ) and I like Media Jukebox the most.

[Yuniverse]

i'm also interested in what app is top notch...

*bump*

[Angus]

Uh... let's see here...

Encoding: I'm too lazy to encode MP3s most of the time, but when I do I use CDEX which someone gave me a couple years ago. With my luck I'm using something that roundly sucks and I don't even know it. But it does the job and is about 250k worth of application.

Decoding: Winamp 2.81 on my workstation (not a VPR) and Winamp 3 on my 200A5. I use v3 on the notebook because the front panel buttons seem to work better with 3 than with 2. Who knows. I still like version 2 for its lack of fluff.

Ripping: Again, I use that CDEX program since it has CDDB support and the ability to convert right to any blend of MP3. No fluff, easy to use, all the features I want.

Burning: I should add that I use DiscWriter (winamp plugin) to convert from MP3 to WAV so I can burn to CDR. Or sometimes I just use Nero Burning Rom's built in ability if I'm too lazy.

Cataloging: Winamp 3 has a much improved Media Library thinger that I've noticed is pretty good for the most part. Granted it's still in beta so there's some bugs, and from time to time I wish they would make the damn interface easier to use, but it's quite handy. I don't know about WMP or Real. I try to stay away from those beasts. MusicMatch can go to hell too. The last time I tried it it was the ugliest most un-userfriendly program ever. Windows needs a good iTunes rip-off that isn't all round and ugly like so many of the free players (musicmatch, winamp, wmp, real, etc) with all the important features and a nice clean interface.

There's no real "one app to do it all" out there that I've found. All the big label things seem to be more hassle than they're worth, and if you have half a brain you can figure out how to use a couple different apps like Winamp and CDEX and Nero. But I guess some people are even lazier than I am. Hehe.

[Angus]

So I was curious about this program Todd said he was using since he seems to be mr. audio stickler and so on. I figured what the hell, so I downloaded Media Jukebox. Not a bad program once you turn off the obnoxious skins.

The program looks really useful and so far it has all the media management features in an easier to use package than Winamp 3. I imported my 15GBs worth of mp3s (from a network computer) into the player which took about 20mins total. The great news is that the renaming and ID3 features of Music Jukebox are top notch. Sound quality is eh. It's weird in that it will make mp3s of old recordings (Simon & Garfunkel, for instance) sound fan-freakin'-tastic but my new mp3s it seems to blow out and get all floppy. I'll have to find the right settings. I still have to tweak it to figure out why Winamp 2 with a basic EQ curve sounds better. The only thing I really don't like so far is that it seems a bit unresponsive (read: slow).

I think overall it's definitely a program that I might actually use in place of Winamp. I don't know about using it to replace Nero and my current workflow of burning CDs, but it may. Who knows. It'll take a lot to replace Winamp3 on my 200A5 since I finally found a really nice Winamp3 skin that goes with my 200A5.

[dang]

hmm..well thats really dependent on exactly what you want it to do.

do you want a very slim, specialized applcation that only does encoding and playback or do you want an app that can manager your song library, edit ID3 tags, automatically get artist/album/track info from the net, support portable devices and cd-burners, etc.

[sunshine]

I'm not an expert in mp3 stuff but this is what I've learned from persuing the forums dedicated to mp3 stuff. Overwhelmingly the preferred method for ripping cds is using a tool called EAC which stands for Exact Audio Copy. For encoding to mp3 the preferred method is using the Lame encoder with the "alt-preset standard" or "alt-preset extreme" option.

For a tutorial on using these tools visit http://www.ping.be/satcp/tutorials.htm .

Also visit this site http://www.hydrogenaudio.org which is dedicated to stuff like these, in particular visit the discussion forums there.

[geekrock99]

i remember that EZ cd creator pro does pretty much everything. Yes, its a cd recording software, but it does mp3 (en)(de)coding etc etc quite well.

geekrock99

[Angus]

EZCD Creator is the work of Satan! Hissss!!! I used EZCD for about 3 years up until about 6 months ago when I wanted to try Nero for my burning stuff but found out EZCD disables any other burning software in a very aggressive manner that you can't really get around. Later then when I tried to uninstall EZCD and rebooted (simple add/remove automatic uninstall) it managed to completely nuke my system. Blue screen right after the Windows2000 Starting screen in EVERY mode, even safe mode and after a recovery. So screw EZCD creator I say, it's crappy as hell compared to something like Nero on top of all that.

Music Jukebox is turning out to be really nice btw. my 1300 mp3 need a good sorting and cataloging (even though I try really hard to keep them organized) and it's doing a really great job at it, albeit slowly. Doing a massive ID3 tag rename and cleanup is an operation that you start and then get up and walk away from the computer sometimes. And I'm still not quite happy with the sound quality compared to Winamp. Everything seems blown out just a touch and distorted on the low and high end. More tweaking is in order. But hey, it's really easy to use and definitely much better than Winamp if you have a big collection of music (like me).

[geekrock99]

.. shunned away from EZCD creator, i too a NERO user. i was just suggesting to the orginator of this thread that EZCD creator, to my recollection did everything that he asked for in his orginal plea. Anycrap, i agree with you argus that EZCD is a bit bloated and JukeBox is a much nicer multifunctional multimedia application.

cheers!
geekrock99

[dang]

ezcd only does encoding from wav files or an audio cd to a mp3 data cd. not to your hard drive.

If he wants to rip them to his hard drive he'll have to choose something else.

[geekrock99]

i believe there's a save tracks function within EZCD. i might be wrong.
geekrock99