User:Amani/Audio Conversion:

=Converting Audio and Ripping CDs in KDE=

This mini 'How To' is based on my article in the ILUG-CALINFO site.

One very easy way to rip a CD is direct from the file manager (Konqueror or Dolphin). We describe the procedure with respect to Konqueror.

* Insert the CD   * Open a Konqueror window and go to audiocd:/ * Open either the Ogg or Mp3 folder and copy the files as usual.

Tracks can be easily copied to a portable player by this method. You can open an audio CD and player in separate windows and just drag the files across.

Codec, Bitrate, Quality and stereo settings can be found in the Control Center. One disadvantage is that you can not directly specify the encoder (other than mp3/ogg) or the command line arguments.

This neat trick is done using kioslaves.

Many other applications are also available for the purpose. SoundKonvertor for example is a frontend to various command-line audio converters. It is easy to use the GUI. But you will need to set the output directory, formats and desired quality at least. SoundKonvertor can be:

* Controlled with greater ease * Extended with plugins and backends like lame, ffmpeg, oggenc, flac, musepack, mplayer, shorten, oggdec, flake, ape, ttaenc, bonk, faad, aften, OptimFROG, lac, LPAC, wavpack, speex, timidity, vorbisgain, cdda2wav and others.

It is possible to convert between formats like ogg, mp3, m4a, mp2, wma, rm, aiff, avi, flac, flv and others. Tags (read and write), Replay Gain, CD ripping and Calculation are also supported.

An understanding of the differences between lossless and lossy formats, open and patent-encumbered formats and tags will be most helpful for getting the most out of this application.

Always prefer open source multimedia formats like Ogg and flac over other patent-encumbered formats like mp3 and rm.