Freeware for converting WMA to MP3?

[Byron172]

Does anyone know of any free software for converting WMA files to MP3 that also allows you to change the tag lines at the same time? I have tried Fast Audio Converter which is great but the free version only allows me to convert 5 tracks at a time.
I just bought an iRiver but it won't read the tag lines of WMA files!!! Now I have to convert 2000 songs to MP3 (or FLAC, OGG etc.)

[Enverex]

Check for a program named "db Power Amp" that should do the trick. I hope those files are lossless WMA else transcoding them to another lossy format like MP3 will end up with even more reduced sound quality and encoding them to FLAC would be a bad idea too as then each file would be between 15-40MB and still sound like the original lossy WMA.

[Byron172]

Which lossy format would you suggest converting to (or can I convert to lossles from WMA)?
All CD's have been ripped from CD using Media Player 10.

[Enverex]

Erm, I wouldn't recommend reencoding at all to be honest. I would go with OGG if forced to though. You could convert to lossless but then you'll just have the same quality (as you've already lost quality from making them lossy in the first place) but with bigger files.

Best thing to do is to re-rip them from CD to the format you want to use.

[Byron172]

I think re-ripping them is a good idea, I was just hoping there would be a quicker way to get my audio files onto this iRiver. The thing is, it reads the WMA's it just won't read the ID tags so that I can search by Genre etc.
Looks like I've got a couple of sleepless nights to look forward to while I re-rip my entire CD collection!!!
damn!!
Thanks for your help with this one, much appreciated - I'll try the program you recommended in the first reply.
cheers!!

[Enverex]

Hmm, sounds like it may be an ID3 tag issue then. Look for a program that can mass-rename ID3 tags and play about with that. It may be using a newer version of the tags than your iRiver supports, thus saving them in the old format (or both which is also possible) will get you your Genres back. The application 'EasyTag' comes to mind (http://easytag.sourceforge.net).

[Byron172]

Yep, it's definitely an issue with the tags. I found out that WMA files are only supported with the US version of iRiver (I would need to use the US firmware and risk voiding warranty)!!! This means that it will play the files it just won't recognize tags etc.
I tried the "dbPowerAmp" software and it does the trick for converting with the tag lines in tact so thanks a bunch for that tip.....
Thanks again for all your feedback.
By the way, is there any way that I can tell if my WMA files are lossy or lossless?

[Enverex]

What bitrate are they?

[Byron172]

128

[Enverex]

They are lossy, and not too great quality at that. Some people seem to be perfectly happy with that quality though, problem is that if you transcode to say, OGG at 128 aswell, it will lower the quality more.

[Byron172]

What would you say is a decent bitrate? I value your opinion on this.
Cheers

[Enverex]

I keep everything in lossless FLAC format personally, but if I was forced to use a lossy format due to size constrictions, I'd probably use OGG with the quality setting that does around 192-224 VBR.

[Byron172]

Since talking with you and doing a bit of researching on the web, it's all becoming a lot clearer. Basically at the ripping stage I should be ripping the files in a lossless codec (i.e. FLAC) at a high bitrate (say 320) which will give me near perfect reproduction. And if I ensure that I tag the files correctly at the ripping stage I should have no probs. If I then ever want to convert these files to a lossy format to save space the option is there.......is this correct?
Again, thanks for helping me understand this process...cheers.:thumbsup:

[Enverex]

Erm, what you just said made no sense to be honest, heh. When you rip to lossless, you don't select a bitrate, that's automatic (think about it, if you set a bitrate then it's going to be losing quality isn't it) and it WILL give perfect reproduction, not 'near perfect'. And then yes, you can then convert them to some other format in future if you want and it would be no different than ripping them off the CD as the FLAC files will be the same quality as the original. Only issue is that FLAC files are normally half the size of the original (speaking generally). An uncompressed audio track is normally 10MB/minute on the CD and FLAC normally compresses to around 50-70% of the original, so a 5 minute track (50MB uncompressed) would be around 30MB in FLAC format. If you've got the space to spare and are analy retentive about sound quality like me then it's a good idea.

[Byron172]

OK I get it now, I wasn't aware of the intricacies of ripping in lossless as I have not tried it (and based on the amount of disk space it uses probably never will). Suffice to say, I now understand the concept behind music ripping/storing a lot more than when I first started out thanks to your helpful advice.......
All the best,
B:thumbsup:

[Enverex]

Heh, yeah. I've got more space than I need now too though. I bought 2 250GB drives to use in RAID0 not realising that with RAID0 you get the full capacity of both drives where as I thought I'd only have the capacity of one (or rather one + one / 2 = capacity, same difference) so I now have a total of 660GB drive space plus another 90GB on the server, lol.

[Byron172]

That's some serious space!!! This mp3 player has 40 gig to play with and I thought that was a lot but 660gig!!!! Now that would keep me busy for a loooooong time....

[deversio]

I've got a perfect tool -

As do I - The Holy BanGrenade Of Westlake!© :aol:

-Prof

[Byron172]

Good on ya', I'll give it a go and get back to you.
:cheers:

[deversio]

:rockon:

[Enverex]

I'm going to have to blow the horn on this one. First the user has only 1 post (well, two now including that smiley one) as well as the post sounding completely like an advert. Second, the program requires you to pay for it (not entirely sure how limited the program is if you use the "trial" as I don't trust that site enough to try) and third, the page is utterly filled with keyword spam at the bottom, a massive amount of links all going to different pages which are infact the same page.

I'd be careful if I were you Byron.

[deversio]

I'm going to have to blow the horn on this one. First the user has only 1 post (well, two now including that smiley one) as well as the post sounding completely like an advert. Second, the program requires you to pay for it (not entirely sure how limited the program is if you use the "trial" as I don't trust that site enough to try)

I'd be careful if I were you Byron.

Hm! By the way I just can't find freeware ........ :necro:
Well! Give me freeware )

> user has only 1 post
You started with 101 ??? :thumbsdow

[profdlp]

Hm! By the way I just can't find freeware ........ :necro:
Well! Give me freeware )

> user has only 1 post
You started with 101 ??? :thumbsdow
Funny how your original post is identical to others I found elsewhere on the Internet. If you're going to try and spam us, at least do us the courtesy of writing something original. :wave:

[Byron172]

Thanks guys. As soon as I followed the link and saw the site (and the fact that the so called freeware was gonna cost me ??WTF??) I disregarded the recommendation straight away.
Good to know that someones "got your back" on the old WWW.
By the way - poweramp is working fantastically for what I need to do, so thanks for that Enverex....since we first spoke on this thread I have really started to understand the concepts behind the variety of music files, quality control and so forth. Thanks again for your advice..........:thumbsup: