Suggestions for 1.3.4

[jarome]

There are some bothersome features in 1.3.4

1) Why can't I rip MP3 with variable bitrate up to 320 kbps? That corresponds to alt-preset-extreme. VBR up to 260 kbps is not good enough for classical music.

2) 1.3.4 no longer pops up the Metadata editor when you do Export Multiple and go past the first screen. So If you forget to have entered the metadata first, the tracks get exported without most of the id tags. You should be prompted for this.

3) Add label at playback position (command-M) minimizes the window for me. It works on 1.25, so this does not seem to be an interference from some other application or system setting.

[steve]

1) Why can't I rip MP3 with variable bitrate up to 320 kbps? That corresponds to alt-preset-extreme. VBR up to 260 kbps is not good enough for classical music.

At 320 kbps ("alt-preset insane", not "alt-preset-extreme") CBR performs better than VBR, so if you want the best possible MP3 quality, you should use CBR 320 kbit/s. Alternatively, use FLAC.

2) 1.3.4 no longer pops up the Metadata editor when you do Export Multiple and go past the first screen. So If you forget to have entered the metadata first, the tracks get exported without most of the id tags. You should be prompted for this.

I think there's a setting for this in "Edit->Preferences->Batch"

3) Add label at playback position (command-M) minimizes the window for me. It works on 1.25, so this does not seem to be an interference from some other application or system setting.

Strange, I don't get that problem. You could try changing the hot key combination in "Edit->Preferences->Keyboard" and see if that fixes it.

[jarome]

I have tested and decided that 320 VBR is good enough and saves me significant disk space compared to 320 kbps CBR. So why can't I use it? It is supported by LAME.

The Keyboard Preferences pane is totally blank for me.

There is no "Edit->Preferences->Batch"

prefs.png (36.76 KiB) Viewed 4442 times

[jarome]

Well, the Keyboard pane is blank unless you have started a recording. Thats a bug IMHO.

[steve]

I have tested and decided that 320 VBR is good enough and saves me significant disk space compared to 320 kbps CBR. So why can't I use it? It is supported by LAME.

Audacity uses the "Recommended Settings" for VBR.
See here for more information: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... opic=28124

Sorry I can't help with the other points - I don't have a Mac.

[jarome]

That might be their recommendation, but I disagree. Why can't audacity users pick any LAME setting? This should be overrideable.

[steve]

I don't think that there is a LAME setting for 320 kbps VBR. The maximum bit rate that LAME uses is 320kbps. If you want an average bit rate of 320kbps then the entire file must be at 320kbps, and that is CBR not VBR.

The recommended settings are the ones that provide the best quality/size ratio. If you want an inferior quality/size ratio (why?), use lame.exe as an external encoder and set the parameters manually. (Audacity 1.3.x only - not available in 1.2.x).

[jarome]

No. For example in Winamp (which uses LAME), you can specify VBR with the max rate of 320, and the min rate of whatever. I usually take 220 kbps. VBR done this way sounds just as good as CBR at 320, but saves disk space.

See attached pic.

WinAmp settings

winamp.png (33.23 KiB) Viewed 4411 times

[steve]

That's using an old encoder and an old encoding method. Since Lame 3.9, a new algorithm has been used for encoding with the new "Quality" settings. The "recommended quality settings" are optimised settings for the quality vs. size trade off. In Lame 3.9 the highest quality VBR is achieved with "-V 0" (--preset extreme). The quality of "extreme" is almost indistinguishable from "insane" (320 CBR), but here is a saving of around 30% in file size.