spilt MP3 file without re-encoding...

[mrgrimm5b]

ahoy all.

when i try to split an MP3 file into smaller MP3 files, it seems as if Audacity is re-encoding the resulting files. thus, it converts the MP3 file into a WAV for editing, then re-encodes the various split sections of the file upon export to MP3 again. i assume this will result in a degraded audio quality in the resulting split smaller files. is there a way to simply split the MP3 file without re-encoding into MP3 from WAV again with Audacity?

thanks.

[waxcylinder]

Actally Audacity converts the file into its own complicated file structure - but this is also uncompressed like WAV.

You would be better off tring to find a piece of s/w which will just split/trim the MP3 file directly - IIRC there have been some earlier posts about this so if you use the Search function you may find a recommendation.

And yes you are right it will almost certainly result in degraded quality if you do this through Audacity - it's a bit like taking packet dried chicken soup, adding with water and then boiling it down to dried soup again ..... Basically every compression step loses some audio quality - the MP3 will already have been compressed once on its creation and then you will compres again on exporting from Audacity.

WC

[steve]

http://mp3splt.sourceforge.net/mp3splt_page/home.php

[mrgrimm5b]

thanks for the replies and links. i had found mp3split and mp3cut on other forums/searches, i just was hoping there was a way to do it all within Audacity, my favorite audio tool. prob something i should look to add to the code base when i get the time

thanks.