Is there any software that will encode a wav filet to an mp3 by right clicking on the file in Windows Explorer? Preferably using the LAME encoder.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

any FREE program that will do it?

http://www.google.com/search?q=add%20thing...ht-click%20menu

Add your LAME command line to the Windows registry.

(1) Find: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wav and locate the (Default) value. Let's assume it is $SomeKey$.

(2) Now go to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\$SomeKey$\shell\

Create a new subkey called whatever you like (here "LAME-test"). Select the new subkey and under (Default) enter the text that will appear in your right-click menu ("• My LAME Command"). Now create a key called "command" one level deeper.

(3) There under another (Default) value enter the actual LAME command.
For example, lame.exe -V 2 -h "%L"

No additional tools are necessary, except LAME.exe command line encoder. Place the program somewhere in your %path%, or specify the full path in the command above.

Screenshots:
http://j7n.sytes.net/www/ha-rclick1.png
http://j7n.sytes.net/www/ha-rclick2.png

thanks for the registry hack advice. i'm not too experienced with registry editing, i tried it, didn't seem to work.

if you could have a look at these screen shots and give me a few extra hints i'd be grateful

http://stashbox.org/43968/trev%27s%20reg%20lame.JPG

thanks!

dbpoweramp is free if you configure it to use lame.exe with the cli plugin (vs. using bundled trial lame encoder).
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-cli.htm

Though j7n's solution seems just about as simple to do, whatever works

I'm still looking for some kind of generic hook that allows multiple files to be passed to a batch file.

You created all keys under ".wav". They were supposed to go in

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\soundrec

on your system. Of course you will be able to encode files only one by one with this method.

When I want to set up an encoder I don't like to muck around in the registry either. This is the method I use (although much less elegant, it is easier to change imo)

• Open the folder where your encoder resides
• Open the run dialog from the start menu (Win+r)
• Type "sendto" in the run dialog
• Create a shortcut from your encoder into the sendto folder
• Edit the properties to add the command line of your choice to the shortcut

This adds a link to your encoder under the sendto menu. Like I said not as elegant a solution, but if you know little about the registry you can't really mess anything up this way. I use this method to compress png files, test new lame versions, test different encoders and other things of that nature. If you need something where you need to change the settings quite a bit, editing the shortcut is not an ideal solution.

What about encoders that expect input files not as the last parameters? Such as, -if "%L" -of "%L.ext" scheme. NAACENC complains if "-of" is not specified. Btw, I could not make new items appear in Send To. This method is of little use if it requires logoff or reboot.

You just create a batch file for the encoder, it's really no big deal.

What I don't like about the solution is that your batch file will always appear in the send to menu regardless of the type of object(s) selected. Unlike j7n's solution, however, it spawns only one instance for multiple items. This is why it would be nice if someone could create a hook (because I prefer j7n's solution as it is context-dependent), otherwise dBpowerAMP is probably your best bet.

Edited for clarity.

You're saying that it would not spawn an encoder instance for every file "sent to"? (I can't check as the batch file would not appear under Send To for me.)

That's correct and I just verified that it works as advertised. My previous response was reworded to better reflect this.

I don't use this exact method personally; I drag and drop onto a shortcut instead (which is essentially the same thing).

Ah, my mistake I really only use this with PNG compression, FLAC encoding and decoding and LAME encoding. I hadn't really tried much else in the way of encoders. I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to add something to send to, I'm able to read/write anything in send to and have done so on multiple computers.

Previously, I found that it is handy to set the Send To and Start menu to the same directory. Then every program you can launch from Start can also be used to open arbitrary file extensions. Works best if the start menu is tidy and organized.

However under WinXP I couln't make them use one dir. XP likes to police the user about what is right and what is wrong. After a few days of attempting to do it I gave up.

I probably could add shortcuts to the Send To. But I didn't succeed on the first attempt and thought it's not worth the effort to try harder. Do you need to restart Explorer, or Log Off for the newly added items to appear?

No, it's immediate.

Shell extensions allow you to encode/decode/resample/retag/change volume directly from Windows Explorer

http://www.iolfree.ie/~mp3workshop/

I used to use this quite a bit seemed good software, it is quite old so not sure how stable it is on Vista.