Hi,
I am ripping a few of my new CDs with Lame 3.97 and I want to set the same volume to my new musics...
I could use MP3Gain or the foobar2000 native...

Is there any difference between both?
Both make changes lossless?

Which is better?

there should be none. foobar2000 and mp3gain can both figure out what to set the gain to. i personally would suggest foobar2000 since it's a bit easier to use and it works for every format that foobar2000 can decode.

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a "losless" MP3 conversion of any sort.
ReplayGain and its parallels on other players is ok, but once you apply the changes into the file (rather than just set it on the track's metadata/ID3) it would always offend the sound quality somehow - since it involves re-encoding of an already lossy format.

If you're asking about ripping CDs, I'd suggest AudioGrabber. What it actually does is create an intermediate WAV file, normalizes it (if you choose the "normalize" option, naturally) and only then encodes it into MP3.

But again - this will only work for CD-ripping, as the source is lossless.

The MP3 is not re-encoded (according to MP3Gain's FAQ).

edit: regarding the original question, you might see some minor differences in the calculated gain from MP3Gain and foobar2000, but overall, the results are going to be very similar. Personally, I use foobar2000 exclusively.

Ok, thanks!
It's better to use fb2k, since i use it for all my audio files, and make it a swiss army is so confortable...

Personally I prefer MP3Gain, because it IS LOSSLESS and apply the gain in a way that every player can handle

So RG isn't applied in a way that other players can handle?

mp3gain is replaygain. It just implements it in a way that can be undone losslessly. I don't know if foobar does, my player supports replaygain so I don't even have to bother with any of this

But fb2k's replaygain is lossless too... did you know it?

foobar2000 can use Replay Gain metadata on playback, to change the volume on-the-fly, just like MP3Gain.

Let me remind you that foobar2000 can also alter MP3 data to change the physical volume, just like MP3Gain.

Right-click, ReplayGain, Apply * ReplayGain to MP3 Data

I thought so since essentially the data is in a tag (when not applied) but is it still usable by other players or do other players only recognize scale? I seem to recall reading/asking about that in one of the REACT posts.

If you apply the gain change to the audio data itself (specifically, the "global gain field" which is part of the mp3 audio data), it's reversible (if you keep a log), only possible in 1.5dB steps (that's normally good enough), and will be heard in all players.

If you add tags, it's reversible (just strip the tag), possible to more accuracy than you can ever need, but will only be heard in players that read that tag.

Take your pick.

(btw, you missed the third option which is to use wavgain to calculate the ReplayGain value before mp3 encoding, and to scale the audio data before or during mp3 encoding. That really is irreversible! There are threads about it somewhere.)

Cheers,
David.