Hello. I'm brand new to this stuff (mp3) - I downloaded EAC and LAME 3.97b yesterday and installed according to the very helpful guide on coasterfactory.com. I've read a lot of the FAQs and other info, but today I noticed the LAME DLL tab in Compression Options - it has "Quality" (low, med, high); Max VBR Bitrate; and a "Use VBR Quality" (1 through 10) options.

What do these do? I can't find a reference to this tab anywhere (if it's been discussed here please point me in the right direction). Do these override the settings from the External Compression tab? I have User Defined Encoder selected, with V2 --vbr new, as per the coasterfactory instructions (this seems to be the commonly recommended setting - -V 2 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d)

The max bitrate in the LAME DLL tab is currently at 320kps. Is this necessary - would I notice a difference if I lowered it to 256K? (if it even actually changes the setting). What is the deal with the Quality, and Use VBR Quality? What's the difference, and what do they change?

Thanks for any help!

You're best bet is to use the "user defined encoder" and select lame.exe. Then you can enter you specific command line.

Thanks - yeah that's what I have, with the command line as noted (sorry if it wasn't clear). I was wondering if the settings in the "LAME DLL" tab in the compression options affect anything (override the settings or command line in the External Compression tab), and if so, what do they mean?

No. If you use "User Defined Encoder" only the command line has any relevance.

great - thanks. that isn't obvious based on the guides/FAQs I have read (unless I missed something).

Also, do the other LAME 3.97b downloads under the "Bundle" on Rarewares have any relevance regarding EAC? It looks like they are improvements/updates to it. So far I have downloaded the Bundle only:

rarewares MP3 page


.

If you are using the external compressor, with the "User Defined Encoder" parameter passing scheme, then LAME.EXE is all you need.

If you chose to use the DLL, lame_enc.dll, as an "internal compressor" (Waveform tab) then some others may be of use, like the modified DLL with INI file setup.

OK - thanks.

What are the advantages of using the "internal compressor" option?

Not having to mess about with command lines.

Avoiding a temporary file, but only able to extract and encode a single track at once (will be slower on multiprocessors/multicores/HT)