Just wondering if anyone has any preferences/opinions whether Foobar or Razorlame is better for encoding using lame?
Also, when using Foobar, I get a transcoding warning when going from mp3 320 to vbr.
"You are about to transcode from one lossy format to another. This will degrade the quality of the transcoded files further compared to the source".
My interpretation of that is simply that the file will be reduced in size, which is the point. Am I right or is there something else going on that I don't know about?
Thanks ahead of time
Full Version: Foobar v Razorlame
QUOTE(elowe @ May 27 2008, 19:39) 
Also, when using Foobar, I get a transcoding warning when going from mp3 320 to vbr.
"You are about to transcode from one lossy format to another. This will degrade the quality of the transcoded files further compared to the source".
My interpretation of that is simply that the file will be reduced in size, which is the point. Am I right or is there something else going on that I don't know about?
You are not right. There will indeed be a degradation in quality due to reencoding. There is, however, a program that can sometimes remove unused space from a 320 cbr file, losslessly turning it into a vbr file. The size reduction varies and is probably less than what you want.
QUOTE(pdq @ May 27 2008, 19:02)
QUOTE(elowe @ May 27 2008, 19:39)
Also, when using Foobar, I get a transcoding warning when going from mp3 320 to vbr.
"You are about to transcode from one lossy format to another. This will degrade the quality of the transcoded files further compared to the source".
My interpretation of that is simply that the file will be reduced in size, which is the point. Am I right or is there something else going on that I don't know about?
You are not right. There will indeed be a degradation in quality due to reencoding. There is, however, a program that can sometimes remove unused space from a 320 cbr file, losslessly turning it into a vbr file. The size reduction varies and is probably less than what you want.
What program is that?
MP3repacker.
to answer your question which is on topic:
foobar would be better, because of its already included tagging system, and you can create a list of options in the converter settings which you want, so it makes you easier to rip/transcode.
foobar is a clever made all-in-one audio tool and, not to forget
, an excellent audio player / decoder.
There are 3 "laws" in Transcoding:
lossy to lossy => Quality loss, also if you convert to the same bitrate or even higher bitrate than the source [not recommended, nasty artifacts!]
lossless to lossy => Quality loss, Quality depends on lossy codec and its settings (recommended if you want to make lossy files)
lossless to lossless => no Quality loss; every single information is still saved after a conversion.
as a logical consequence:
lossy to lossless => no change in Quality, mostly useless [but not in case of de-/transcoding back to 16-BIt WAV for burning on Audio CD for example]
lossless formats / codecs are for example: FLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio, TAK, OptimFrog, Apple Lossless etc.
lossy formats are: MP3, Vorbis, AAC, MPC, Atrac 3 etc.
EDIT: I might be wrong, but I think RazorLame is no longer being developed, and it has its problems with newer Lame versions like 3.97 (there's always an error message at the end of the encoding because of the replaygain feature of lame3.97)
foobar would be better, because of its already included tagging system, and you can create a list of options in the converter settings which you want, so it makes you easier to rip/transcode.
foobar is a clever made all-in-one audio tool and, not to forget
, an excellent audio player / decoder.There are 3 "laws" in Transcoding:
lossy to lossy => Quality loss, also if you convert to the same bitrate or even higher bitrate than the source [not recommended, nasty artifacts!]
lossless to lossy => Quality loss, Quality depends on lossy codec and its settings (recommended if you want to make lossy files)
lossless to lossless => no Quality loss; every single information is still saved after a conversion.
as a logical consequence:
lossy to lossless => no change in Quality, mostly useless [but not in case of de-/transcoding back to 16-BIt WAV for burning on Audio CD for example]
lossless formats / codecs are for example: FLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio, TAK, OptimFrog, Apple Lossless etc.
lossy formats are: MP3, Vorbis, AAC, MPC, Atrac 3 etc.
EDIT: I might be wrong, but I think RazorLame is no longer being developed, and it has its problems with newer Lame versions like 3.97 (there's always an error message at the end of the encoding because of the replaygain feature of lame3.97)
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