Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

[randym]

I have just started ripping flac to play with slimserver and am creating mp3 copies using dbpoweramp. Dbpoweramp works great and I like how it preserves my flac tags, even custom tags. However, the lame codec in R11.5 is 3.96, which is 2-1/2 years old. It appears there is no way for me to upgrade to lame version 3.7, which was released in September 2006. Why is that? Wouldn't it be easy to allow licensed users to update to the latest versions of lame as they become available?

I downloaded R12 beta last night (uses lame 3.7) and discovered that it does not yet accept the flac codec, and hence cannot convert my flacs to mp3.

I note that there is freeware that allows batch convestion of flac to mp3, where the programs use flac and lame executable files that can be updated as they become available. But they don't handle tags as well as dbpoweramp.

Thanks,
Randy

[xoas]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

R12 uses a different version of the FLAC codec which needs to be downloaded from the Beta section of the forum here:

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=9739

While the r12 beta has the mp3 decoder and wave codec built-in you need separate downloads for any other codecs you are going to use with R12 from the R12 beta sitet.

Best wishes,
Bill

[LtData]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

You can update the LAME codec at any time. However, there are some consequences. If you update the .dll, then the presets will not work. In this case, you can use the LAME.exe codec from Codec Central and download the LAME.exe of whatever version you want. You will need to input the command-line options for your encoding.

The reason that dMC r11.5 was not updated was that LAME 3.97 just came out a few months ago when work was already directed towards dMC r12. Changing from LAME 3.96.1 to 3.97 would have necessitated a UI change to show the new presets.

[randym]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

You can update the LAME codec at any time. However, there are some consequences. If you update the .dll, then the presets will not work. In this case, you can use the LAME.exe codec from Codec Central and download the LAME.exe of whatever version you want. You will need to input the command-line options for your encoding.

Sorry for being dense, but could you provide a recipe for doing this, or point me to one that now exists? How would I update the dll file? Codec Central allows a download of only one lame codec (mp3 lame cli) which says it is "release 1, includes lame 3.93.1" It is my understanding that the latest version of lame is 3.7. Is it possible to download the latest lame executable from the lame web site and have dbpoweramp access that file? Anyway, you can tell from my questions that I am truly a novice.

It would seem that a recipe of this type would be useful to a lot of people. Will understand if you disagree.

Thanks,
Randy

[LtData]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

You can download the official LAME executable and use it, yes. You can also update the DLL file by replacing it. It is located in the dBpowerAMP installation folder under Compression\Lame and is called lame_enc.dll. Note that the presets may or may not work, depending on if they changed, but the normal CBR/ABR/VBR settings will work just fine.

[randym]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

Thanks Lt. Data. I did a little digging and learned that the lame dll file is part of lame, not part of the dbpoweramp program as I previously thought. Version 3.7 of Lame (unlike version 3.6) does not provide the dll file directly, only the tools to create one. So I think it is a bit beyond me. I will await version 12 of dbpoweramp.

[Deano]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

You can get a precompiled version of LAME from Rarewares. The complete bundle contains the lame_enc.dll you desire.

http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html

Incidentally, I have not been able to get the .exe contained in this package to work with dBpowerAMP, I get a "codec failure" message. I am currently using the 3.97b2 (beta) codec, this seems to work adequately.

I have not tried the 3.97 lame_enc.dll included in this pack, I assume it will work fine.

[LtData]

Re: Novice Question--Using latest version of lame

As I said, the lame_enc.dll should work fine with the exception that the presets will NOT work, as 3.97 introduced new, different presets. If you manually choose the bitrate and everything else, it should work as before.