Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
Though I would share something I learned last week with my friends on iboats who use MP3 players.
Lately I have downloaded music files that are in the FLAC format. My MP3 player (Creative Zen X-Fi) will not play FLAC files. I did a little research and found that the files can be converted to MP3 for free by jumping through a few hoops and using free Apple software and Windows Media Player. But this is a 3 or 4 step process, time consuming and open to user mistakes.
But there is a better, quicker and easier one step method I found outlined on an audio website by the magazine editor:
1) Download freeware program FOOBAR2000, google it, I believe its available from CNET.COM and is spyware free, and never asks you to upgrade to a paid version.
2) Google and download the needed MP3 encryption code LAME.EXE and install in your music directory (or where ever you like). Its in the ZIP format. Its probably the best MP3 encryption code going, and is used by programs like FOOBAR2000 and others to encrypt music into the MP3 format. Note: do not download the developers package from Lame directly, that is not what is needed.
3) Start FOOBAR2000 and drag and drop the FLAC music files into the window. Then highlight the entries and right click, select "convert". The convert window will open, select the MP3 and it will ask where LAME.EXE is located. Point it to where you saved LAME.EXE. Also specify where the MP3 files should be stored. I used the same folder as the FLAC source. The pointing to LAME is only done the first time FOOBAR2OOO is used.
That is is. After the initial setup, FOOBAR2000 will convert the selected flac files to mp3 with no additional fuss.
No advertising, no spyware, no Apple software needed. The bit rate can be specified, and I use the max at 320kbps so the resulting MP3 files are high quality. FLAC format is a very high grade loss-less format so encoding to mp3 makes a great copy. Also note that FOOBAR2000 can play FLAC files without converting if you want to play the highest quality file available.
Nothing listed above is breaking any user clause, etc. Its all above board. The resulting MP3 files sound great! So far no problems encoding, and it takes about 20 seconds per track to convert, so its fairly quick and painless.
Lately I have downloaded music files that are in the FLAC format. My MP3 player (Creative Zen X-Fi) will not play FLAC files. I did a little research and found that the files can be converted to MP3 for free by jumping through a few hoops and using free Apple software and Windows Media Player. But this is a 3 or 4 step process, time consuming and open to user mistakes.
But there is a better, quicker and easier one step method I found outlined on an audio website by the magazine editor:
1) Download freeware program FOOBAR2000, google it, I believe its available from CNET.COM and is spyware free, and never asks you to upgrade to a paid version.
2) Google and download the needed MP3 encryption code LAME.EXE and install in your music directory (or where ever you like). Its in the ZIP format. Its probably the best MP3 encryption code going, and is used by programs like FOOBAR2000 and others to encrypt music into the MP3 format. Note: do not download the developers package from Lame directly, that is not what is needed.
3) Start FOOBAR2000 and drag and drop the FLAC music files into the window. Then highlight the entries and right click, select "convert". The convert window will open, select the MP3 and it will ask where LAME.EXE is located. Point it to where you saved LAME.EXE. Also specify where the MP3 files should be stored. I used the same folder as the FLAC source. The pointing to LAME is only done the first time FOOBAR2OOO is used.
That is is. After the initial setup, FOOBAR2000 will convert the selected flac files to mp3 with no additional fuss.
No advertising, no spyware, no Apple software needed. The bit rate can be specified, and I use the max at 320kbps so the resulting MP3 files are high quality. FLAC format is a very high grade loss-less format so encoding to mp3 makes a great copy. Also note that FOOBAR2000 can play FLAC files without converting if you want to play the highest quality file available.
Nothing listed above is breaking any user clause, etc. Its all above board. The resulting MP3 files sound great! So far no problems encoding, and it takes about 20 seconds per track to convert, so its fairly quick and painless.