I am looking for a program recommendation to cut a two hour long mp3 into fourteen mp3s. The source is a 2 channel 256kbps Dolby Digital AC3 file ripped from the Opeth DVD Lamentations, and it was converted to mp3 via BeSweet 1.5b25, Azid, and LAME 3.90.3 (--alt-preset standard -b32 -B320).

mp3DirectCut!

Solaris

mp3DirectCut works for this task but there are drawbacks:

• Gapless playback will be spoiled - there'll be small gaps/glitches between files unless you use a media player that does something like crossfading.
• File length info might be wrong with some players (use something like VBRfix if necessary)

Advanced sollutions:
In case you want PC playback only

• create a .cue file for the .mp3 and use a player capable of using it like a playlist or if you still have the AC3
• use foobar2000 (-> AC3 input plugin) using a .cue file for the AC3 for downmixing and transcoding to some other lossy format that is capable of gapless playback, e.g. Musepack.

If you need separate mp3 files (e.g. for portable use) try (almost) the same:

• use foobar2000 (-> AC3 input plugin) using a .cue file for the AC3 for downmixing and transcoding to (lame) mp3. The result will be separate tracks with correct headers, no bit reservoir problems caused by splitting and gapless playback with decent software players.

Thanks to both of you Tigre, I have an additional question. To accomplish the last item on your list, will I have to write my own cue sheet for the AC3 file? (Not that I'm unwilling to do so.) I'm not currently aware of any way of auto-generating one for an AC3 file already ripped.

Edit: VV Thanks again

If you know the positions where you want new tracks to start, you can create a .cue file manually. For such tasks I use an existing .cue sheet (e.g. from an Exact Audio Copy - single file + .cue - rip) and edit it using notepad. The syntax/structure is quite self-explaining. Make sure you put it in the same directory as the .AC3. If you have fb2k AC3 input plugin installed, you can check immediately if the result is correct or if you have to e.g. adjust some time positions.

It's been a while since i've done this, but why don't you just use the options in dvd decrypter or smart ripper to rip and split by chapters? Also take the lpcm stream if available.