Any pro apps for OS X to convert AIF to MP3?

[ShaneFontane]

I'm wondering if there is a professional application for OS X that will allow me to convert files to MP3 with the best possible conversion process. Being able to tag ISRC is a bonus since I am using this application to prepare files for sale.

I know I can use iTunes. I know I can save my songs as MP3 from within Digital Performer. On and on. But I was wondering if there is one single pro application that online retailers of digital downloads are using to prepare their incoming AIFs for sale on the web?

Thanks in advanced.

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by ShaneFontane

I'm wondering if there is a professional application for OS X that will allow me to convert files to MP3 with the best possible conversion process. Being able to tag ISRC is a bonus since I am using this application to prepare files for sale.

I know I can use iTunes. I know I can save my songs as MP3 from within Digital Performer. On and on. But I was wondering if there is one single pro application that online retailers of digital downloads are using to prepare their incoming AIFs for sale on the web?

Thanks in advanced.

Hi Shane, you could use Audioease's Barbabatch 4 for OSX which uses a freeware Mp3 codec called (LAME) within the program. This allows you to do ID3 tags as well as a whole heap of other options. But I found while the options were excellent & you could do batch conversions quickly & easily, I found the quality of the LAME codec wasn't as good as iTunes. As sonic quality should always take priority I now use iTunes for any Mp3 conversions. Hope this helps a little...

Matt

[Andy Krehm]

Originally Posted by MattGray

Hi Shane, you could use Audioease's Barbabatch 4 for OSX which uses a freeware Mp3 codec called (LAME) within the program. This allows you to do ID3 tags as well as a whole heap of other options. But I found while the options were excellent & you could do batch conversions quickly & easily, I found the quality of the LAME codec wasn't as good as iTunes. As sonic quality should always take priority I now use iTunes for any Mp3 conversions. Hope this helps a little...

Matt

Hey Matt:

What's your opinion on Pro Tools mp3 conversion? I haven't done any comparisons with other mp3 conversion programs but I recently compared a PTs converted mp3 @ 192 kb against the 16/44.1k master and was surprised that it sounded as good as it did.

[hummer]

check out max. it's free, and does batch conversions to a bunch of different formats. it also uses the lame codec for mp3. ID tagging is a breeze, and the CD ripper is pretty nice.


http://sbooth.org/Max/

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by Andy Krehm

Hey Matt:

What's your opinion on Pro Tools mp3 conversion? I haven't done any comparisons with other mp3 conversion programs but I recently compared a PTs converted mp3 @ 192 kb against the 16/44.1k master and was surprised that it sounded as good as it did.

Hey Andy, I haven't tried the Mp3 option in Pro Tools if it's the fraunhofer algorithm then it's probably fine. Because I usually do all my SRC & dither outside of Pro Tools I haven't found it convenient to do Mp3's in Pro Tools in this way. Honestly I think iTunes is so easy & sounds great, so I just do it there. Also as a side note you can import your 24bit wave files into iTunes & do the Mp3's from that, I think it's a tad more transparent than doing it from a 16 bit dithered file & it turns out the same size at the end anyway.

Matt