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Making MP3s: Rippers & Encoders By GREG SWAIN I N ORDER TO MAKE your own MP3s you’ll need ripping and encoding software. A combined ripper and encoder that can extract tracks from a CD and convert them into MP3 format in one seamless operation is usually the most convenient. However, there’s noth­ing to stop you from using one program to rip the tracks to WAV files and then using another program to convert them to MP3 format, if that’s what you prefer. You’ll also need a reasonably fast PC with a modern CD-R that’s capable of digital audio extraction (these CDRs are normally branded DA). If the CD-R doesn’t offer digital audio extraction, the sound must be sampled via the sound card and this gives somewhat lower quality (depending on the card itself). The main factor to consider when making MP3s is the bit rate. Higher bit rates produce better sound quality but they also create larger files. Table 1 on page 6 shows the bit rate options that are commonly available and the resulting sound quality. Generally, the settings to go for are: 128kb/s bit rate, 44.1kHz sampling and stereo – see Table 1. This will give good-quality sound but at the same time keep file sizes down, with a compression ratio of about 10.5:1. By contrast, a bit rate of 192kb/s gives a compression ratio of about 7:1, which means that the file sizes are about 50% bigger than at 128kb/s. That mightn’t sound like a lot but it can be important if you’re trying to squeeze the maximum number of tracks into the memory of a portable MP3 player. If file size isn’t critical, try increasing the sampling rate from 128kb/s to 160kb/s. This will give slightly better sound quality for only slightly larger file sizes. There can also be variations between different MP3 encoders, so you might like to experiment here. The Lame, Fraunhofer and Blade encoders are all reputed to produce good results. Most encoders set the sampling according to the bit rate selected. However, some of the fancier encoders give you a choice of sample rates – eg, 16kHz, 24kHz, 32kHz, 44.1kHz and 48kHz. Audio CDs have a sample rate of 44.1kHz, so there’s usually nothing to be gained by going higher than this. Lower sampling rates will reduce the file size but high-frequency losses quickly become noticeable. Some encoders also have a variable bit rate (VBR) option. When selected, this allows the program to automatically vary the bit rate according the frequencies present, so that the file size is kept to a minimum. Encoders with this feature also often let you set the minimum bit rates. Typical ripper/encoders Not looking to spend any money? Then take a look at CDex v1.40 (Beta6) – see Fig.1. This freeware MP3 ripper/ encoder offers all the functions you could want, including the ability to rip tracks off a CD and save them in WAV or Fig.1: CDex 1.4 (Beta 6) is a freeware ripper/encoder program that’s easy to drive and has lots of features. You can bring up the track titles by querying the CDDB over the Internet or by manually editing each track title in turn. 12  Silicon Chip www.siliconchip.com.au Fig.2: Audiograbber 1.8 is a comprehensive ripper/encoder but it will cost you $US25 for the non-crippled version. MP3 format in one operation. It can also convert existing WAV files on your hard disk to MP3s and even convert MP3s to WAV files, in case you want to record your MP3s in a format that can be read on a conventional audio CD player (eg, in your car). There’s also support for different bit rates (including VBR) and there’s a selection of inbuilt encoders (CODECs) to choose from. The default is the Lame MP3 encoder which gives excellent results. An interesting option is the inclusion of the Windows WMA encoder, which produces compressed files that can be played on the Windows Media Player. It’s easy to use. To rip files off an audio CD, you simply load the program and place the CD into the drive. This brings up a list of tracks as shown in Fig.1, after which you can select one of more tracks and convert them to WAV or MP3 format. The track titles in Fig.1 are shown as AudioTrack 01, AudioTrack 02 and so on but you can rename them before ripping by right-clicking each file in turn and typing in the correct track title. If that sounds like a lot of work (and it is), there’s an easy way out. In common with many other ripper/encoders, CDex supports a feature called “CDDB”, or CD Database. This is basi­cally an Internet database that identifies the CD and automati­cally supplies the track titles, the CD title and the name of the artist. In fact, there are two CD databases that you can use – cddb and freedb – and CDex uses the latter by default. Of course, you need an Internet connection in order to query a database. And that’s where there’s a trap – if you enable the “auto-connect” feature in CDex, the program will automatically dial out and connect as soon as the CD is loaded. Unless you have a perma­ nent connection, you’re much better off just clicking the “CDDB” button on the righthand edge of the window when you’re ready. An alternative is to use the CDDB that’s supplied with some CD-ROM burning software. In the case of Nero 5, for example, you just copy the cddb.zip file to your hard disk, unzip it (you’ll need about 130MB of free disk space) www.siliconchip.com.au Fig.3: Audiograbber’s “MP3 Settings” dialog lets you adjust the bit rate and choose the encoder to be used. If you want an internal encoder, just copy lame_enc.dll to the same folder as “audiograbber.exe”. Fig.4: this dialog appears during the MP3 conversion process in Audiograbber. and then enter the path to this file in the relevant setup window of your MP3 encoder. ID3 tagging Another feature offered by CDex is ID3 tagging. This allows you to enter in text information about each track – eg, the track title, artist, year and comments – which is then subsequently displayed by the MP3 player. The ID3 tags are written to the end of each MP3 file. Creating a playlist How do you get you MP3 player to automatically play a list of MP3s? Answer – you need to create a “playlist”. This is nothing more than a text file that contains a list of MP3s and you can add or delete tracks from the playlist simply by editing this file using a text editor such as Notepad. You can also rearrange the order in which the tracks are played and change the track title information that’s displayed by the MP3 player. You can also pull some rather neat tricks with the playl­ist. Want the MP3 player to repeat a particular track September 2001  13 several times? That’s easy – just add multiple entries of this track into the playlist. As with many other MP3 encoders, CDex can automatically generate a playlist for you at the end of the MP3 conversion process. This creates a file called “playlist. m3u” (all playlist files have a .m3u extension) that lists all the files that you’ve just converted. The playlist is automatically updated if addi­tional tracks are subsequently ripped and encoded as MP3s. You don’t have to use a text editor to edit the playlist, by the way. Some MP3 players, such as Winamp, include a playlist editor that makes the job easy. It’s also possible to edit the track titles before ripping using the MP3 encoder software, as pointed out previously. Audiograbber Another excellent MP3 encoder is Audiograbber v1.8 – see Fig.2. This offers all the features of CDex and a few more be­sides, although it doesn’t include an inbuilt MP3 encoder. That’s easily overcome by downloading and copying LAME’s freeware MP3 encoder DLL file (lame_enc. 14  Silicon Chip dll) to the same folder as “audiograbber.exe”. You will then have an internal MP3 encoder that goes all the way to 320kb/s. Lame_enc.dll is available from www.dkutsanov. chat.ru or you can simply download and unzip CDex.zip (see panel) to obtain a copy. Alternatively, you can use an external encoder such as BladeEnc. This is available as freeware from www.bladeenc.mp3.no – just point Audiograbber’s encoder settings to the folder that contains the BladeEnc.exe file. Unfortunately, the trial version of Audiograbber has been crippled so that you can rip only half the tracks on a CD in a single session. These tracks are randomly selected each time you insert the CD. It’ll cost you $US25 for the full working version. AudioCatalyst is essentially an updated version of Audio­grabber and includes its own MP3 encoder. Once again, the trial version is crippled but $US29 restores all the features. There are lots of other MP3 ripper/encoders available, in­cluding Earjam IMP, Easy MP3, Sonique, Easy CD-DA, www.siliconchip.com.au Fig.5: Winamp is a clever media player (MP3, CD audio, etc) that comes for free! Handy features include support for CDDB and a Playlist Editor (bottom). Fig.6: want to give Winamp a different appearance from the standard fare? Easy – just download and apply a new “skin”. This one is called “Spilt Milk”. Musicmatch Jukebox, Audio Converter and MP3 Creator, to name just a few. MP3 players You can use the Windows Media Player for playing back MP3s on your PC but our favourite is the freeware program Winamp (Fig.5). This versatile program boasts a Playlist Editor, an Equalizer, an inbuilt spectrum analyser and even a Minibrowser that lets you search web sites for MP3 files. Naturally, all the “normal” CD player controls are these, along with a volume control, a balance control and a shuffle control (oh yes, it also plays audio CDs). You can even change the look of the graphics by downloading and applying “skins” – see Fig.6. Using Winamp to replay MP3s is a “no-brainer” – just click the Play button and navigate to the folder where your MP3s are stored. Once there, you can either choose to play a single MP3 file or you can load a playlist (.m3u) file so that all the tracks in the playlist are played automatically. Alternatively, double-clicking on an MP3 file or on a playlist (.msu) file automatically starts the Play function. Clicking the little sinewave symbol at the top left of Winamp brings down a menu that also lets you Play files and launch the Playlist Editor, the Equaliser and the Minibrowser windows. These windows cleverly snap together and both the Playl­ist and Minibrowser windows can be resized by dragging. The Winamp and equalizer panels can be shown www.siliconchip.com.au Fig.7: there are lots of easy-to-follow options when it comes to configuring your copy of Winamp. double-size by choosing this option from the Options menu. The buttons along the bottom of the Playlist Editor let you edit the entries (add, remove, sort, edit track titles and ID3 tags, and save new playlists). You can also edit the track titles and ID3 tags by right-clicking the file in the playlist and choosing the appropriate option from the menu. Similarly, right-clicking on the Equaliser and on the Winamp player itself brings up other menu options. Really, it’s a lot more complicated in the telling than in the doing and 30 minutes is all it takes to come to grips with SC this intuitive and clever program. September 2001  15