# A good wav-MP3 program? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729 "2005-02-18T16:02:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/1 "2005-02-18T16:02:20Z")
I’d like suggestions about a good wav-MP3 conversion program. I’ve been using Acid, and I’m not impressed with it for that purpose-- I’d like some other options. All suggestions welcomed! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/2 "2005-02-18T16:27:38Z")
The easiest and best I’ve seen: [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm](http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/3 "2005-02-18T19:37:09Z")
I’ve always used plain ol’ vanilla WinAmp. I haven’t done it in a while, so I don’t remember exactly how to do it, but poking around in the settings for a minute or two should show you how. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/4 "2005-02-18T20:01:01Z")
And the latest Winamp has support for the successor to mp3, [mpeg-4 aacplus](http://www.codingtechnologies.com/products/aacPlus.htm) . ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/5 "2005-02-18T20:12:06Z")
LAME is a good one. Do you want to rip CDs and convert them to mp3? If that is what you want I would suggest lame in conjunction with audio grabber. [http://lame.sourceforge.net/](http://lame.sourceforge.net/) [http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/](http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/) They require a little setup to use but winamp unless you buy it restricts you to a small set of bit rates. Nero is also too restrictive in my view. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/6 "2005-02-18T20:26:57Z")
[CDEX](http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/) is a damn good CD\>WAV or CD\>MP3 ripper that also just happens to have an option to batch convert exisitng WAV files to MP3. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s freeware and it uses LAME (packaged with it so you don’t have to fuss around installing LAME separately) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-wav-mp3-program/290729/7 "2005-02-18T20:38:36Z")
I’ve used both dBpoweramp and CDex (each recommended above). Both are free, both come with the excellent LAME encoder already packaged, and both are high quality and easy to use. You can’t really go wrong with either of them.