MP3 Files - Help or Recomendations

Hi, thought I'd throw this out to those in the know as I've had little luck trying to select good software on the net.

I have a new laptop running Windows 10 and just over 120GB of music files from my CD colection, I've slimed down from 170GB and been ruthless in deleting CDs. Now I have left what I want. I need to save more disc space and find some good and quick software or app to lower / convert the file size and keep all the file data such as title, track listing etc.

I copied the music to MP3 at 320 bit rate and want to lower to around 192/220 bit rate. I know this will downgrade the quality but will only be used on the laptop with headphones or small speaker so I don't expect there will be much differance in actual sound.

I've made a couple of copies of the files at 320 bit rate to keep so if it all goes bad I can revert. Any reviews on speed of conversion would also be helpful as I expect this will be a long job and I would want to batch the files and do it in one hit after a test run.

Any advice would be gladly recieved. Cheers

LAME is a well-regarded encoder; I use the Linux version from scripts written by myself, but there is a Windows version as well:

http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php

You might consider variable bitrate. It might be worth arranging a blind listening test using the same piece of music at 320 and 192.

More info here: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=LAME

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Originally Posted by monogroover

LAME is a well-regarded encoder; I use the Linux version from scripts written by myself, but there is a Windows version as well:

http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php

You might consider variable bitrate. It might be worth arranging a blind listening test using the same piece of music at 320 and 192.

More info here: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=LAME

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Thanks for that, I will have a look. Anything I use I will do a test on a couple of files to see if it is that differant in quality. As mentioned have some copies and on my hifi would only use the 320. All the best.

Instead of lowering the quality of your music collection, why not look into an inexpensive way to increase your storage?

A 128GB USB drive is now under 25£.

Google Play offers free storage. You can add up to 50,000 songs to Google Play Music from your personal music collection using Google Play Music for Chrome or Music Manager (up to 300MB per song). Once you've added your music, you can listen to it through the Google Play Music app and on your computer.

So does Amazon, though the free limit there is 20GB or so (IIRC).

Synology NAS drives have a feature set called Synology Audio Station, its built in and very effective. Synology drives start at 85£.

Have to agree with the above, rather than deleting the files (unless you really want rid of them) or lowering the quality then invest in a back-up/spare hard drive/cloud based and store your currently unwanted music on there.

Thanks guys, I have all the music backed up and stored on a differant system for home use and hifi.

For my sins I have a Surface Book with a 256gb drive and added a small SD card that fits perfectly without sticking out which is 200gb. I want to store my music, photos etc. on the SD card and use the hard drive on the Surface for other things.

If I can get the size of the music file on the laptop slimmed down I can use it for photos at high resolutions.

I say for my sins because I had 4 Surface Books before I got one that worked from PCWorld. Had a great HP Spectre x360 13 but would not connect to wifi!

Saying all that if you get a Surface Book that works it's a fantastic bit of engineering and the visuals are very good and not many finger prints on the screen which was an issue with the HP.

All the best.

A 192 bitrate over small speakers should be ok. As a comparison the BBC transmit Radio 3 on DAB radio at 192.

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Originally Posted by Rod

A 192 bitrate over small speakers should be ok. As a comparison the BBC transmit Radio 3 on DAB radio at 192.

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Thanks Rod, I think that 192 would be ok for use on a speaker in the garden or headphones. Just trying to cram and have more space on the laptop. HiFi differant and would keep the 320 for that.

Really interested in an app that works and keeps data for use in iTunes or Microsoft Grove and is fast in terms of conversion and safe to use. Thanks again.

Oh, forgot to say that I want it on my laptop without using wifi as I can't always count on a connection. Hope this helps. Cheers

ffmpeg will do it, and preserve the ID3 tags. https://ffmpeg.org/

dbpoweramp will do it as well, and its very easy to use, but its no longer free ($39). https://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

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Originally Posted by jcm3

ffmpeg will do it, and preserve the ID3 tags. https://ffmpeg.org/

dbpoweramp will do it as well, and its very easy to use, but its no longer free ($39). https://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

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Thanks, ffmpeg looks interesting but it's years since I used command lines so I will give it a miss as I expect I would end up spending hours messing around with it.

I like the look of dbpoweramp and the reviews are very good so I will give it a try.

Thanks again for all replies all very helpful. I will report back once I've completed. All the best.

Foobar 2000 is free and very powerful. Does take a bit of getting used to though. Looks a bit rubbish at first glance.

But as others have said, storage is so cheap. In a few months time you'll probably be able to get a card for your surface with enough capacity and the right price.

I've got a 128GB card in my phone that has about half of my music. That's still a lot of music though! And it won't be long before I can get something that will store the whole lot for £20.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

As mentioned I have a SD card 200Gb in the slot but I want to try to keep 50% free to use for photos and docs. Your right about the low price for memory and size, amazing when I think back to older times.

Went for the dbpoweramp as I have a lot more CDs to rip and hope it will be consistent.

Did a test to convert from MP3 320bit down to 190 bit and impressed at speed, 2 CDs converted in 1.45 mins which is good given the amount I have to convert and all data in place. Sound seems good but will do some blind tests on my partner and see if she can spot the differance between 320 and 190 bit on head phones and speaker.

Going to read a bit more on the use and configuration and then hit the button on the big batch and let it run this evening.

Thanks again for the help and advice. Cheers.

DBpoweramp is excellent. I use it for my NAS storage but as flac.

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Originally Posted by Rod

DBpoweramp is excellent. I use it for my NAS storage but as flac.

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Hi Rod, it seems good but need to get my head around it. I tried to do a batch of a 107GB file of MP3 320 bit down to MP3 to 252 bit at VB and left it all night running. This morning only 2% completed and 16 days 10 hours left!

The laptop is i7 with 8Gb ram so fairly fast. Did a test this morning, converting fast 221 files in 7.52 mins. Think I will do them in segments from now on. Cheers.