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OpenSource Audio Encoder for Windows winLAME

As most knows, if all you need is to rip a CD into either MP3 or WMA format in Windows, then you dont need any dedicated app since Windows media player is more than capable of doing that. But if you want to convert few additional file types such as MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, OGG into other multimedia formats with ease and looking for a completely free, open-source application, then winLAME (named after the famous Lame encoder, I think) is a pretty cool one.

It has a Wizard type interface which literally guide you through the whole process ... so its quite the newbie friendly app :). It uses few of the free plug-ins to expand its converting ability thus you can use it as an easy AAC to MP3 encoder as well. .

Main features...

*. As said supports both encoding and decoding of various audio formats (both lossy and lossless) such as: MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Flac, AAC, WMA, aiff, voc and many more!.


*. Also supports converting/ripping audio CDs from the interface + online CD data fetching (album name, year, Genre, etc).


*. You can easily set encoding option for more than a single file thus if you have a bit of a "list" of files needs to be converted using the same audio quality settings... this is certainly handy.

*. Change quality based settings with ease with the sliders or manually assign the Bitrate according to your preference.


*. Automatically delete (can be disabled) the source file afterwards ... are its main features to mention.

I tested it with a MP3 file to OGG... and I gotta say that in the past OGG was slightly slower than MP3 when it came to converting (although OGG has always the better quality in comparison with MP3 at the same Bitrate) but with winLAME it certainly encoded the file really fast!. It also comes with pre-CPU optimized libraries that supports AMD 3D now and other Intel based multimedia settings, etc.

So, if youre looking for a free & open-source (GNU/GPL licensed) audio converter/encoder for MS Windows (supports 98 up-to Win 7), then winLAME is an excellent little utility thats worth trying.

Get it from this winLAME home page.

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Multitrack Audio Editor Recorder for Ubuntu GNUSound

If you have a lot of multitrack audio files that need a little editing and looking for a software application that lets you do it without getting in your way, then GNUSound is an excellent little utility.

Although we do have the more popular Audacity which is a very powerful audio recorder and editor itself, but if youre looking something similar in natures + comes recommended by the GNU dudes themselves ;-), then GNUSound is also a very competitive one without a doubt as well.

Main features...

*. Has the ability to load and edit audio file types such MP3, WAV, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, AAC etc. But unless you have installed Lame MP3 encoder for instance, then you wont be able to load and edit MP3 files using it.


So if you want the maximum usability out of it, then make sure you have installed appropriate audio package separately. You can get more info from here.

*. Cut/Copy/Delete/Paste using the time-line window section with ease.

*. You can even import audio track inside a lot other multimedia containers using the ffmpeg libraries installed as well.

*. Amplify, Bandpass, delay, fade, normalize, reverse playback, etc are just a few of the built in tools.


*. Play and Record audios.

*. Zoom in/out.

*. Lots of selection based features such as: left, right, nudge left/right, snap to grid, etc.

*. Playback and Record supported via Alsa, OSS, Jack or Dummy audio servers.

*. Change sample rate 8/16/32, audio channels, bitrate, recording buffer size, etc via the "Preferences" window.


*. Insert or delete individual tracks.

*. Save audio track in different formats and error recovery (say to due to the application crash, etc)... are the main features to mention.

You can install GNUSound in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 11.10, 10.10 and 10.04 by using the below command in your Terminal window.

sudo apt-get install gnusound

It did crash once I was using it but other than that it was certainly quite robust and was resource friendly too.

So if youre looking for an easy to use, fast loading multitrack audio editor and a recorder for Ubuntu (its designed for the Gnome desktop actually) that comes recommended by the GNU foundation, then GNUSound is certainly a simple yet a powerful utility which is also completely free! (including free as in freedom too :D).

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