A cleaner mp3 settings interface

[naugas]

Hi! I was looking around for a nice, free ripping program, on the account for a friend that needs something easy to use.

When trying dbpoweramp I noticed that the settings interface for mp3 is rather confusing. It could be made too look more or less like the settings of ogg vorbis I think. (Perhaps even just like it, now that I've looked at it closer. I can't think of any way to improve that interface! ) Have you seen the suggestions on http://lame.sourceforge.net/lame_ui_example.html ?

edit: Wow! I'm already a [COLOR=Red]dbpoweramp regular[/COLOR]!

[Spoon]

Re: A cleaner mp3 settings interface

Most people will be using the presets (atleast I hope they would), it is a good idea to bring that option on the first page.

[naugas]

Re: A cleaner mp3 settings interface

Ok, but as I understand it there are no presets no more on recent lame versions - they are already incorporated in the vbr quality settings (and in the settings for abr and cbr too), and a choice of presets would only add buttons, no real functionality. But I guess something like (medium), (standard) and (extreme) could be shown as additional info when moving the slider over -V 4, 2 and 0. Or better; 6, 8 and 10 if -V n is mapped to a quality scale from 1 to 10, as in the vorbis settings, which would add more consistency - which is always good.

Those awkward and redundant options, as min bitrate, full stereo mode and such could be put in an "Advanced Options" menu, like the one existing now.

I'm looking at the Vorbis settings menu right now, and the only change apart from that "Advanced Options" button would be to drop the [as source] stereo mode. Then you would have a beautiful, easy to understand interface with all relevant options at hand directly! edit 2: Well, there's a need for setting standard/fast encoding mode as well, forgot about that one...



edit: Thinking of it, it could very well be a good idea to also have the (former) presets available additionally, into a dropdown menu or check boxes named "Recommended Settings" or something, even though they don't change/add anything to the encodes. This would guide people into producing better encodes.