Hi there, I'm trying to convert my flac collection to mp3 (to make it easier to use with portable devices, streaming, etc), but I'm having problems with VBR tags. I'm on Linux and I'm using soundconverter to convert the FLACs to VBR mp3. However some programs are having problems diplaying time information, seeking etc. with the mp3s output.

- In Winamp the total time is displayed correctly, however seeking doesn't work properly.
- In iTunes, the total time is displayed correctly and seeking works fine.
- In foobar the total time is displayed incorrectly and seeking doesn't work at all. Looking at the file in foobar, it's showing it as 32kbps CBR. If I select "fix VBR mp3 tags" in foobar, the new file does have the correct length in foobar. However seeking is still broken in Winamp.

Which program is correct here? How can I tell if the mp3 produced is dodgy or not? Can anyone recommend a program other than soundconverter on Linux to batch convert files to mp3?

How about trying a different mp3 plugin for winamp? like mpg123 or mad

Or maybe changing tagging type in foobar fixes it.

Well I want to make sure the mp3s I'm encoding actually have the correct headers - especially given I won't be keeping the original flacs. Is Winamp known to have a default mp3 decoder which has a bugged VBR implementation?

As far as I know, the Winamp implementation is OK, based on the fact that all my VBR MP3s work flawlessly with it. Note that I use ID3v2.3, as it is the most widely supported tagging format.

I usually use foobar2000 to create MP3s from FLACs, but since foobar2000 writes ID3v2.4, I then use Mp3Tag to convert the tags to standard ID3v2.3.

Currently I do not know of a program that is as functional and flawless as foobar2000 and Mp3Tag, both on Windows and Linux.