I had some problems with lame.exe setup with EAC (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=15&t=8383& ) , but now i have found the solution. I think this could be added to the "List of recommended LAME settings" (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=15&t=203&):

Open EAC, press F11 (Compression Options), set "Parameter passing scheme" to "User Defined Encoder", and in "Additional command line options" type as defined (all on the same line, no enter needed):

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CBR 320 (Highest possible quality):
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--alt-preset insane
(bitrate: 320 kbps)

Additional command line options:
--alt-preset insane --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-insane" %s %d

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VBR (Variable Bitrate) settings:
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Even Higher Quality

Higher Quality (Slower):
--alt-preset extreme -Z
(bitrates 220-270 kbit/s -- usually averages around 256kbps)

Additional command line options:
--alt-preset extreme -Z --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-extreme-Z" %s %d


Faster (Very Slightly Lower Quality):
--alt-preset fast extreme
(bitrates roughly the same as above)

Additional command line options:
--alt-preset fast extreme --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-fast-extreme" %s %d


Very High Quality

Higher Quality (Slower):
--alt-preset standard -Z
(bitrates 180-220 kbit/s -- usually averages around 192 kbps)

Additional command line options:
--alt-preset standard -Z --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-standard-Z" %s %d


Faster (Very Slightly Lower Quality):
--alt-preset fast standard
(bitrates roughly the same as above)

Additional command line options:
--alt-preset fast standard --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-fast-standard" %s %d

New: -Z added. Read this thread for more.


Medium quality, but reduced bitrate (-Y: usually limited to 16 kHz!) :

--alt-preset standard -Y

Additional command line options:
--alt-preset standard -Y --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-standard-Y" %s %d


NOTE: as EAC can pass diferent parameter depending if High Quality or Low Quality is selected, here are some combined strings:

HQ: --alt-preset insane LQ: --alt-preset extreme -Z
%h--alt-preset insane --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-insane"%h%l--alt-preset extreme -Z --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-extreme-Z"%l --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" %s %d

HQ: --alt-preset extreme -Z LQ: --alt-preset standard -Z
%h--alt-preset extreme -Z --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-extreme-Z"%h%l--alt-preset standard -Z --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-standard-Z"%l --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" %s %d

HQ: --alt-preset standard -Z LQ: --alt-preset standard -Y
%h--alt-preset standard -Z --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-standard-Z"%h%l--alt-preset standard -Y --tc "EAC+LAME -alt-pre-standard-Y"%l --ta "%a" --tl "%g" --tt "%t" --tn "%n" --ty "%y" --tg "%m" %s %d

** EDIT **

<<< NOTE to John33 >>>: maybe it could be a good idea to make lame.exe print the full command line it receives and add a "pause" to it if there is an error, so it makes easier to debug problems with parameter passing.

If you keep the comment field to less than 30 characters, LAME will smartly use an ID3v1 tag by default unless the Title/Album/Artist etc exceeds 30 characters (28 for v1.1 tag, and v1.1 is used with tracknumber, according to lame --longhelp). If any fields exceed this limit, it will use an ID3v2 header instead (which comes at the start of the file, and is disliked by some players like FB2K).

For that reason I abbreviated my comment field to 28 characters and came up with the following (example uses APS -b 32 -Y, for low quality preset, which might not be a safe commandline (whereas -Y is safe in causing no artifacts except the reduction of >16 kHz frequencies):



It seems your examples used 30 characters, which might still generate ID3v1 for all I know, or might generate ID3v2.

I also had problems debugging my parameter passing (e.g. you can only use one pair of %h %h and one pair of %l %l and the %h pair has to come first, it seems, and also the field length can only be 253 characters, though you can type 254 characters and the last will disappear).

You're also limited if you try to use Case's wapet to encode with lame using added APE tags because you can't pass on parameters to Lame's id3 tagger via wapet and would have to use EAC's id3 tagger, which won't do intelligent switching from id3v1 to id3v2 and can't pass on the two versions of the ID3 comment field.

I normally use Musepack and have a much easier life!