I have to start homogenizing (bitrate, normalized volume, etc.) my mobile collection. I'd like for all files to be either 96k, mp3 or 64k, aac when I'm done with the project. Most of my files are either 256k or 192k mp3 at present.

Any suggestions for freeware tools or plugins to do this? I've tried lame-mp3-writer for winamp, but it insists on renaming the file to the id3 tag track-name, and it's also kind of slow at maximum "quality" (whatever that means, since it doesn't mean either KHz or bitrate).

Thanks.

I've had really good luck with dBpoweramp music converter. I haven't tried to normalize the volume using this program but I have transcoded quite a few files to/from MP3 and AAC. Hope this helps.

Well, you can use either dBpowerAMP or foobar2000 to convert your files down to a lower bitrate. Just keep in mind that, when using the AAC format, you will want to force the Low Complexity (LC) profile unless your device supports HE-AAC files. You can also use foobar2000 (I am not sure about dBpowerAMP, I have never looked) and its ReplayGain function to normalize the volume. Either that or mp3Gain (it works with both mp3 and AAC files) will normalize the volume as well. I prefer to use dBpowerAMP for my CD ripping needs, foobar2000 for all my file converting needs, and mp3Gain for all of my volume needs.

Thanks.