WAV to MP3 conversion

[hanafuda]

OK.

Needs to be free.

Compatible with Vista 64 bit.

Excellent sound quality.

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

 

[SonGohan]

Doesn't windows media player do this?

 

[hanafuda]

Doesn't windows media player do this?

Really? That would be handy...

Need to get the WAV files ready first. I'm converting MiniDisc recordings.

 

[RocketLawnChair]

Audacity is free, and it should work for you. I don't use Windows, but I often use the Linux version to convert / edit audio. Apparently there is a Windows version.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

 

[xiao_haozi]

Audacity is a good one.

But if you are just wanting to do straight up conversions you could try one of these:

http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php#Windows

 

[norton9478]

CDex


Don't know if it works in vista 64 tho....


You can always use I-Tunes if you have a CD-RW on hand.

 

[payment_due]

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=wav+to+mp3+encoder

 

[Xian Xi]

iTunes should be able to do it. I don't know if it's the same for Windows though. On a Mac you just right click on the song and choose "Convert to MP3".

 

[Ancient Flounder]

iTunes should be able to do it. I don't know if it's the same for Windows though. On a Mac you just right click on the song and choose "Convert to MP3".

Windows version does it, too.

 

[Murray]

Learn to use lame. Get it from www.rarewares.org. It's about the best MP3 encoder there is.

Edit: Also, the iTunes MP3 encoder sounds horrible.

 

[Nesagwa]

Learn to use lame. Get it from www.rarewares.org. It's about the best MP3 encoder there is.

Edit: Also, the iTunes MP3 encoder sounds horrible.

Make sure you go into the import settings and set your MP3 bitrate to 320.

 

[Maury V.]

I use AoA Audio Extractor.

 

[rarehero]

CDex


Don't know if it works in vista 64 tho....


You can always use I-Tunes if you have a CD-RW on hand.

I think you might have rec'd that to me in the first place,
but I use that for ripping cds of mine to mp3s.
good shareware.

 

[WeinerDogSunglasses]

use LAME

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

Why MP3? Use something more modern.

 

[ResO]

Excellent sound quality.

Then MP3 definitely isn't what you're looking for. MP3 is over-compressed shit.

 

[hanafuda]

Thanks all.

I'll have a crack at convertimg a MiniDisc to WAV tonight, then take it from there.

I say MP3 as initially I just want to access the data on my PSP, but I'll still have the WAV version so I'm open to suggestions to convert to a different format. Bear in mind that all recordings came from an analogue source (my mixer) and the MiniDisc recorder captured that.

 

[norton9478]

I think you might have rec'd that to me in the first place,
but I use that for ripping cds of mine to mp3s.
good shareware.

freeware

Or open license to be more specific.

 

[norton9478]

Thanks all.

I'll have a crack at convertimg a MiniDisc to WAV tonight, then take it from there.

I say MP3 as initially I just want to access the data on my PSP, but I'll still have the WAV version so I'm open to suggestions to convert to a different format. Bear in mind that all recordings came from an analogue source (my mixer) and the MiniDisc recorder captured that.

With audacity, you can just record (it stores temp files) and output mp3.

 

[Neo Alec]

I used MusicMatch for everything, including this, before they killed it.

Of course, before that, back in the day I used to use so-and-so's DOS-based audio converter. Which took a day to run.

 

[Murray]

Make sure you go into the import settings and set your MP3 bitrate to 320.

lame -V0 inputfile outputfile

It's 320k VBR w/ psychoacoustic processing. Sounds as good as 320k but w/o the wasted space. This is 2009, no one uses CBR anymore.

I used MusicMatch for everything, including this, before they killed it.

MusicMatch used the Xing encoder, which was also crap.

Seriously, MP3 has such a bad rap because of all the horrible encoders going around. Companies are licensing the Xing one or a descendant and I have no idea what iTunes is using but it's almost as though they're intentionally making the MP3 sound worse so you'll use AAC. If people would just use LAME (with a frontend if you really want one), most of the complaints would go away.

 

[ki_atsushi]

+1 for lame

I use the razorlame front end, it's a nice gui.

 

[ki_atsushi]

lame -V0 inputfile outputfile

It's 320k VBR w/ psychoacoustic processing. Sounds as good as 320k but w/o the wasted space. This is 2009, no one uses CBR anymore.
MusicMatch used the Xing encoder, which was also crap.

Seriously, MP3 has such a bad rap because of all the horrible encoders going around. Companies are licensing the Xing one or a descendant and I have no idea what iTunes is using but it's almost as though they're intentionally making the MP3 sound worse so you'll use AAC. If people would just use LAME (with a frontend if you really want one), most of the complaints would go away.

I did hear somewhere that apple licensed the Xing encoder. Goddamn it sucks. Even at 25kbps I could tell the difference between it and an AAC at the same bitrate. For all intents and purposes there should not be any audible difference from the original source at those bitrates, but the mp3's failed.

 

[hanafuda]

OK, I ripped the MiniDisc to WAV files pretty easily using the SoundStage software that came with the MD unit.

From there though it seems to be limited. I tried creating a music CD from the WAV files but it takes up more data than will fit on the 700MB CD.

So now I'm going to try some of the tools you guys have recommended. Maybe lame first.

 

[hanafuda]

CDex


Don't know if it works in vista 64 tho....


You can always use I-Tunes if you have a CD-RW on hand.

How do I get the WAV files into CDex if they aren't on a CD? There doesn't seem to be an option to import from HDD, just CD drive.

I knew this was going to be a pain in the ass.

Is there not just a GUI app where I can select multiple WAV files stored on my HDD, and say convert all these to MP3?