ZSNES board

alexz721 · Post by **alexz721** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:25 pm

So I occasionally download entire APE cd images that aren't available in any other format (usually rare imports for some reason), and I need a good program that'll split the tracks and convert it to mp3 without leaving gaps. Anyone know what would do the job?

kieran_ · Post by **kieran_** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:06 pm

What format is the image? BIN+CUE or somesuch, or is there some format that I haven't heard of created specifially for APE audio?

If it is just a regular image, then mount it and rip with something that uses LAME. I use Exact Audio Copy and it produces gapless rips, as long as you use it in a player that supports gapless. Windows Media Player does not, foobar and the latest winamp support it. If you still use winamp 2.9, then you can get a plug-in that will enable gapless.

Firon · Post by **Firon** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:10 pm

foobar2000 with the APE decoder installed. Load the CUE, setup your LAME encoding settings, then select the tracks for conversion, and voilá.

alexz721 · Post by **alexz721** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:15 pm

Sweet.

DOLLS (J) [!] · Post by **DOLLS (J) [!]** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:11 am

Or use CUE Splitter.

alexz721 · Post by **alexz721** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:14 am

CUE Splitter leaves a split-second gap, last I checked. I could try it again.

alexz721 · Post by **alexz721** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:19 am

kilivipin wrote:What format is the image? BIN+CUE or somesuch, or is there some format that I haven't heard of created specifially for APE audio?

If it is just a regular image, then mount it and rip with something that uses LAME. I use Exact Audio Copy and it produces gapless rips, as long as you use it in a player that supports gapless. Windows Media Player does not, foobar and the latest winamp support it. If you still use winamp 2.9, then you can get a plug-in that will enable gapless.

I should rephrase; it's not a true cd image, it's one large .ape file with a .cue file specifying where the splits between tracks are, so EAC won't work for my purposes. Great program for ripping and converting cds though.

As for foobar, after experimenting with it, I think it works for my purposes, and I like that it can also convert to .mpc and .ogg. For .mp3, what's the best VBR to convert it to? Default is V2 (approximately 192kbps), but I want to know how low I can go with VBR without a discernible difference in audio quality.

Firon · Post by **Firon** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:10 am

Try -V5 --vbr-new. If you can ABX that, or you want a little security, try -V4 --vbr-new.
Oh, and --vbr-new is the new VBR code: better quality, and like 2-3 times faster.

You can actually convert to pretty much any format with foobar2000 using external encoders. It's pretty good, you can do just about anything with it.