Freeware for converting mp3 bitrates

[Ksyder]

Hi, I'm looking for a freeware program to take existing podcasts and shrink them down to mabe 48, or 64 kbs bitrate, depending on quality so I can archive them and use less disk space.

I tried Cd ex on a folder full of podcasts (only 831 mb) and it ran all night, gave me an error message and didn't seem to do anything.

I'm running Windows 7 Pro and have a Celeron E3300.

 

[BTA]

dbpoweramp?

 

[0roo0roo]

foobar
use lame mp3 or whatever...but for podcasts i use nero aac, even set to 175kbps it only uses what it needs to..which is far less for speech. ~75kbps ish
and multithreaded. i'm surprised it takes that long, with foobar i use soundtouch dsp to time stretch podcasts..while converting them to aac as well, it encodes at over 200x+ on my x4. reencoding mp3s without time stretching would be done in a blink.

 

[Ksyder]

I tried Cd ex on a folder full of podcasts (only 831 mb) and it ran all night, gave me an error message and didn't seem to do anything.

To clarify, the program said 96 minutes total time to do the job, went to bed thinking it would be done in a half hour or whatever was left, but when I looked at the computer in the morning, the program was still running, still not done, and there was an error message dialog box as well.

So whatever the case, it didn't work out so hot for me. It was strictly an experiment, so no biggie. Maybe the program didn't work, maybe I didn't set it up right, but I think I did. The program seems mainly geared towards ripping cd's.

 

[Phynaz]

Foobar and LAME.

 

[Gooberlx2]

dbpoweramp?

this

 

[Ksyder]

Ok, I installed foobar, w/o installing lame encoder. The only option I have is for mp3 at 190 kbps using LAME. However, I didn't install lame and their website says I can only get the source code for it, so I'm guessing there is no installer. I don't know what to do with the source code but I'm sure I can find out.

I got to go make some lunch before I can work on this anymore, lol. But if anyone has some suggestions I'm all ears

dbpoweramp?

I'm looking at their website and it seems that it is shareware. I'm not seeing a free version. Unfortunately buying software is not in the budget this month...

 

[BTA]

the shareware version of dbpoweramp is fully functional

LAME is a dll you download and usually just put it in the folder of whatever program you're using.

 

[Gooberlx2]

the shareware version of dbpoweramp is fully functional

LAME is a dll you download and usually just put it in the folder of whatever program you're using.

IIRC, mp3 encoding doesn't work without a license, though other codecs will work. Or will manually placing the dll circumvent that?

Regardless, for low bitrates, OP should consider using aac anyway.

 

[BTA]

Do you mean specifically in dbpoweramp? I use it for work so I haven't ever used it for mp3, just assumed LAME worked with it the same as the other software packages I've used for encoding, like audiograbber or audacity....LAME encoding never required a license for those.

 

[Ksyder]

Regardless, for low bitrates, OP should consider using aac anyway.

I don't know anything about aac, other than what I just started reading on wikipedia. I always just dismissed it as some proprietary apple thing in the past. Guess I was way off base there.

Looks pretty good! But I don't know if it would play on my Sansa with Rockbox. If it did I'm all in. What software could I use to transcode mp3 to aac?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Do you mean specifically in dbpoweramp? I use it for work so I haven't ever used it for mp3, just assumed LAME worked with it the same as the other software packages I've used for encoding, like audiograbber or audacity....LAME encoding never required a license for those.

Yeah, though dbpoweramp uses LAME for mp3 encoding, it seems to disable mp3 encoding functionality altogether without purchasing a license.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/db-versions.htm

I know dbpoweramp uses small installers to enable individual codec support....so I assume they're being registered with the program in some more complex way than just placing the dll in the program folder (maybe not *shrug*).

 

[Gooberlx2]

What software could I use to transcode mp3 to aac?

dbpoweramp

 

[0roo0roo]

Ok, I installed foobar, w/o installing lame encoder. The only option I have is for mp3 at 190 kbps using LAME. However, I didn't install lame and their website says I can only get the source code for it, so I'm guessing there is no installer. I don't know what to do with the source code but I'm sure I can find out.

I got to go make some lunch before I can work on this anymore, lol. But if anyone has some suggestions I'm all ears



I'm looking at their website and it seems that it is shareware. I'm not seeing a free version. Unfortunately buying software is not in the budget this month...

don't use mp3 to do low bitrates, it was never meant to do that, aac is better for such tasks, choose that in foobar. it might direct you to a link to download that codec separately. as i said, the nero aac will encode the voice files at the bitrate they need, in my experience at 75kbps or so even if set to 175kbps.

 

[0roo0roo]

further more if there is a corrupt mp3 hanging u up foobar lets you fix the mp3 header..right click on the mp3 in question and its under utilities.

 

[Ksyder]

n/m

 

[0roo0roo]

egads man, its just a codec, aac is an advanced mpeg standard used by apple and many others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding
read it. its most certainly better able to handle low bitrate files, mp3 was never meant to do such tasks. its more efficient esp for low bitrate files..which is the whole point of what you are attempting do is it not?
its a matter of legality that you have to download the codec separately, it doesn't install anything nefarious

 

[Ksyder]

Ok, trying the nero aac/foobar combo, the only selection available was 175 kbps. Anxious to see how the file sizes compare.

 

[0roo0roo]

you have to click the ... option button right beside the codec to choose the kbps slider. it goes from 16-400kbps for aac. there is no strange only one bitrate thing going on here but as i said, leave it at 175vbr, it should just use what it needs.
mp3 lame codec allows choice from 65-320kbps in foobar
right click the file in the window and go to convert ....

 

[Ksyder]

Thanks 0roo0roo, found the setting. I'll try it again with the lower bitrate and see what's up. The 175 kbps didn't seem to reduce the file sizes much, but I didn't investigate it fully. The weird problem is that the file names seemed to take on the name that was in the id3 tag originally and not the source filename.

 

[0roo0roo]

for file name named as filename use %_filename% in the convert window "output files" name format section, it normally uses the column label tags etc. theres a preview window showing if the format settings ur using work.

what bitrate were ur originals anyways?

 

[Ksyder]

what bitrate were ur originals anyways?

I just converted a file, which was 2 hrs long and 96 kbps mp3 @ 86 mb. I set it to 48 kbps Nero AAC and it squashed it down to about 37 mb.

I loaded it on my Sansa and it is playing the file, but it cuts out every few seconds. I don't know if it is a bad encode or if maybe the Sansa can't handle it somehow. I'm going to try it again with a higher bitrate and see if that changes anything.

Update- Well I'm bummed. I tried a variety of AAC bitrates, and tried both VBR and CBR and they don't seem to agree with the Sansa. I can only guess why. It may be "supported" since it is able to decode the files but it doesn't do it well, it causes the Sansa to act real erratically and it "skips" when playing the file.

This appears to be the same problem, below text quoted from here-

The first file (002) works fine on my Sansa e200, but the second one doesn't play at all. This is a known problem, where long MP4/AAC files will not play at all or possibly crash Rockbox. The reason is that the decoder runs out of memory, because it doesn't handle some data tables needed for playback and seeking in a very efficient manner (it pretty much reads the tables verbatim from the file).

I did a search for rockbox + aac and apparently this is a very common problem and the high cpu usage kills battery life on the Sansa e2xx series because the player is just not fast enough for it . Anyways, thanks to everyone, you have all been very helpful and it is cool to learn something new. Hopefully there is a workaround for this somehow because I like the idea of good quality but small filesize AAC files.

Update #2 - Looks like I might stick with ogg vorbis for now, the quality is not as good at 40 kbps as AAC would be, but the Sansa doesn't choke on it. I suppose I could try extremely low bit rate mp3, but haven't tried that yet. Either way, I'm liking the flexibility of the foobar player with integrated encoding. It will give me some freedom to try different things and see what works out the best. As much as I now think the AAC format is great, I can live without the top notch sound quality because I'm just doing this for podcasts. I guess it will be a process of trial and error to figure out the right balance.

 

[0roo0roo]

Oh, i assumed you had some excessive bitrate like 128-160+ for podcasts, if its already 96 you really have no where to go, its already about as low as it can go without losing quality.

Its kinda pathetic that sansa cant even handle aac. Check slickdeals and such for hotdeals on walkmans and such, they are damn cheap, and can handle aac.

 

[wyamarus]

Take a look at MediaCoder.
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net

It is the Swiss Army Knife of free transcoders, supports almost every codec in the universe, and does video as well. You might need to search for some of the more obscure codecs, but I've found it works as expected most of the time. Some of the problems with AAC and Apple-flavored .mp4 audio is likely due to the DRM built into the players, as well as their hardware design intended for top-40 type sub-5 minute audio clips.