I wasn't sure how to search for this, but I thought I would post it in case some others found this. And maybe there is a fix.

I have been doing a lot of reading in prep for getting whole music library done.

I made most of my decisions and started to do a few practical tests.

What I think I want to do is:
Using EAC rip to .flac (EAC set up with all the fancy secure configs etc.)
Use fb2k to convert the .flac to .mp3 (probably with the Bauer Binaural and Advanced Limiter)
Use fb2k to RG scan the .flac files (outside the scope of this thread)
Use mp3Gain to add its 'internal' gain and the undo APE tags (I use Track Gain as I almost exclusively use shuffle on my portable)

Now I have a .flac RG'd and an .mp3 gained for portable use.

Anyway, I ripped to .flac using the std. command line parameters from the Wiki ( at 5) and everything was fine. The APE tags were on the mp3's and the RG values with a slight fine tune were there (according to fb2k). And as I understand it, that's how it should be.

So now I repeated the test (with the very same CD, deleting the folder first), but adding to the .flac command line (in EAC) the -V switch, and a comments tag and changed to compression 8. Now it didn't go so well. Everything set the same, and it looked like it finished the same way, but fb2k could find no APE tags. So now there is, at the least, no undo info for mp3Gain and maybe not a gain at all.

I didn't know which of the added values caused this so I did a bunch of re-tests with various combos and nothing worked. I was about to post these findings and ask what was going on, when I decided to try the original that had worked already. It didn't work either. Grrrrrr.

So I rebooted and tried the second string with the -V and comment and -8 compression....worked.

I'm not sure why mp3Gain did that. Has anybody seen this; I would hate to have to reboot between uses.

I haven't tried a bunch of successive tests as there are a few other things I need to iron before I go full guns, but any insight into this would be appreciated.

Could you please explain in more detail, please, of what exactly you did. You talk about a FLAC command-line, and then you say that fb2k couldn't find APEv2 tags ? Did you mp3gain your MP3's and no APEv2 tags showed up on the MP3's in fb2k ? If you have some MP3's in a playlist in fb2k and then run mp3gain on them, then you need to rightclick the MP3's in fb2k and select "Tagging/reload info from files" to see the APEv2 tags. Also, instead of using mp3gain, then fb2k can also calculate and add the gain change directly to the MP3's just like mp3gain, and it sets the RG tags as ID3v2.4 instead of APEv2. Another possibility is to transcode with ReplayGain enabled to MP3 in fb2k instead of using mp3gain.

When I did the first test, I used this:
-T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -5 %s
on the 'Compression Options' tab in EAC (using Flac as the external program). I believe this is straight out of the Wiki.
Next, I converted to .mp3 using fb2k and Lame. I used the factory default of fb2k's Lame configuration. And I had disabled the DSP's (for now).
Next, I used the mp3Gain. I analyzed by Track and used ctrl+G to 'Track Gain'.
Next, I loaded these .mp3 files to fb2k, looked at 'Tagging...mp3 types' and it showed, ID3v1, ID3v2 and APE tags present. I looked at properties, and RG info was there (from mp3Gain), which shows Track Gain (a very small value, and Track Peak.

All right, hold everything. I think you are right about an updating thing in fb2k. I just had to fire it back up to be sure of some of my wording and the mp3 files that I made an hour ago that fb2k showed as not having APE tags now have them. So mp3Gain was indeed doing it's thing.

I would have thought that 'Add Files' in fb2k would update at the same time.

I was leaving the computer as I noticed your reply and had closed fb2k. When I restarted it, everything is fine.

When I use fb2k, I add the .flac files, convert them, clear them, use mp3gain, then 'Add files' in fb2k to add the newly 'gained' .mp3's. Properties at that time showed no APE tags or RG info.

It doesn't matter that much, I will do the right-click thing too from now on...as long as the info there, that's all that really counts. I just couldn't verify it at first.

I guess I would've had my own answer later tonite when I started trying again, but thanks for your reply...it speeded things up.

From what you are describing, then i don't understand why the APEv2 tags aren't shown in the "Properties" dialog ? Using "Re-load info from files" wouldn't work in this situation either, as this was meant to be used in the case of you mp3gain'ing files which allready where present in a playlist in fb2k and in which case the "properties" dialog wouldn't show any APEv2 tags unless you selected to "Re-load info from files". Btw, i would still recommend you to "mp3gain" your files with fb2k, as there's no need to use mp3gain for this, when fb2k has gotten the features of mp3gain incorporated anyways. If you want Track Gain applied to the MP3's, then add them to a playlist, press CTRL + A, right-click on the selection and choose : "ReplayGain" => "Apply Track ReplayGain To MP3 Data". This will do the exact same thing as mp3gain.exe would and means that the MP3's will have been applied a gain change directly into the audio data so that the files will playback Track/Album Gained in e.g. portables which dosen't support ReplayGain.

I don't understand it either, but that's what I saw. It doesn't really matter, now that I know the data is there, and it's just a matter or selecting the proper item on a menu to see it. No big deal.

On the other matter, I think you are answering a question I haven't asked, but have wondered about.

Does fb2k use the same process as mp3Gain, or is it a different 'flavour' of the same idea?

I guess you personally prefer the fb2k method....it's certainly more efficient since it's a 1 step process. I haven't come across any discussion about fb2k 'embedded replaygain', but I have read a lot on mp3Gain and it's methods.
I'm thinking at least 1 thing that mp3Gain offers is an Undo to it's manipulation, whereas fb2k warns of permanent change. This may be important to me. In the future when portables may offer RG support, rather than re-encoding .flac to .mp3 with RG Track and Album written to the ID3 tags, the files could be undone. But, then again, in terms of efficiency, it would probably be easier to simply re-encode.

Have you tried both methods and settled on fb2k's?

Hi w1L50n

fb2k and mp3gain.exe does the same things i.e. they adjust the global gain field in the header of each MP3 frame. They both use the official ReplayGain analysis code by Glen, but fb2k uses a more optimised version of that code for faster analysing. fb2k's results are actually a little more precise during calculations, as it uses it's modified mpglib decoding library for decoding, whereas mp3gain.exe uses the un-modified mpglib library, which dosen't take advantage of enc-delay/padding. You are right in that fb2k dosen't add UNDO tags, so if you absolutely want those tags, then mp3gain.exe(or metamp3.exe) is the way to go, but i wouldn't personally ever want to undo the changes made, but that's just me I have personally gone over to use Vorbis instead of MP3, so i don't use either of these apps for ReplayGain(except when transcoding with fb2k to Vorbis from FLAC images), but instead use VorbisGain during ripping/encoding with the REACT EAC plugin, which automatically makes FLAC images and Vorbis track files.

Well this proves the adage that you learn more from mistakes; if I hadn't had a little trouble with fb2k, I wouldn't necessarily have found all this out.

Thank you very much for the info...it may very well help.

(BTW, my Father is from Horbaek)

You are very welcome, mate

CU, Martin.