Sorry if this is a FAQ (if so point me to a thread), but I can't seem to find an answer in a search :-(

I have a collection already encoded with LAME --alt preset standard. Sounds pretty good to me :-)

Now I have a 128MB MP3 player and want (just for the player) to get the file size down, compromising quality as little as possible. Re-ripping isn't a possibility. I just want (temporary) lower bit rate copies of of my music for the player. So transcoding would seem to be the only way to go from where I am today.

I want to experiment at around 128Kbps for somewhere about half the original average file size. At these bit rates should I be using LAME to transcode, or something else? The player supports VBR, but I've read ABR or even CBR may be better at these bit rates?

So, any recommendations for where I should start in terms of a transcoder & command line switches

LAME in.mp3 out.mp3

is where I am at the moment :-|

W

for transcoding mp3s i recommend speek's all2lame frontend

http://home.wanadoo.nl/~w.speek/all2lame.htm

it is pretty easy to use and can copy your tags (even move the transcoded files to subdirs according to the tags, which is usefull if you're transcoding multiple albums)

get tag.exe from http://www.saunalahti.fi/~cse/files/Tag.zip

set "copy tags from source files" and add this to other options



this puts your files in: "Artist - Album\Nr Title" format.

best commandline for 128kb should be:

"lame --alt preset 128" (abr preset). so just set --alt preset 128 in switches.

regards; ilikedirt

I would go with that but use '--preset 128', or '--preset cbr 128'. If I were you, I'd test with a couple of tracks and see which you prefer. You're obviously aware that quality will not be as good as starting from the original wave file, but it should still be acceptable for your purpose.

Thanks. Will give that a try. I guess VBR for this application is indeed not worth messing with (no need to explain why, by the way).

W

foobar with case's clienc diskwriter or winLAME are my preferred tools when it comes to transcoding between formats, though lame itself should do MP3 -> MP3 just fine (not sure about tags though).

dev0

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=203

Tried the ABR setting. Not sure the player likes the 32Kbps bits. Is there a switch for the --alt preset 128 that will stop the 32Kbps being generated, but otherwise be as good?

W

I believe the -F switch forces the minimum bitrate.

You ought to try using a minimum bitrate of something like 64kbps. The switch for that would be -b 64.

Ok, nearly got it working :-)

Anyone know what I have to do so I can

1. Point All2Lame at an existing folder structure of MP3s (drag & drop the existing folder structure onto All2Lame?)
2. Transcode to another set of (lower bit rate) MP3's
3. Maintain the folder stucture of of the original folders in the output folder(s).
4. Copy over the tags from the original files

--alt-preset 128 -F -b64 is working for me as a LAME setting.

I'm having problems with the folders bit to acheive what I'm after. I don't seem to able to/know how to specify a new root folder as a output folder, and yet maintain all the original file structure below it. The existing tags don't help (to recreate a flder structure from scratch) as there's a mix of single artist & compilation artist albums...

Any ideas?

W