# Software Recommendation, Please **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073 "2010-05-02T22:33:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/1 "2010-05-02T22:33:27Z")
I’m wondering if anyone can recommend a piece of software for me; hopefully freeware. What I want to to is take a bunch of mp3 files and edit out all but the first 20 - 30 seconds and then do a 3 second fade at the end. I’d also like to process a bunch all at once as a batch file. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/2 "2010-05-02T22:41:28Z")
I’d recommend that you check out Audacity. It may do what you need, and it’s free. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/3 "2010-05-04T17:13:40Z")
I don’t think [Audacity](http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) does batch processing, but I second it. Awesome, free program. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/4 "2010-05-04T17:47:57Z")
It doesn’t, but except for that, it does exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/5 "2010-05-13T01:33:19Z")
I was poking through the Audacity help just now, looking for info on something else, and it _does_ seem to support batch processing: [QUOTE=Audacity Manual] How to Use Batch Processing ``` * To set up a chain of batch commands, choose File > Edit Chains... * To apply the chain to files or to the current project, choose File > Apply Chain... ``` [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/6 "2010-05-14T20:32:41Z")
Just to caution you … editing MP3 files is not really all that great of an idea. MP3 is a “lossy” format, which means that once you open it in an editor and save it back out, you will lose some amount data. If you can, find some sort of MP3 converter that will convert from MP3 to some other, non-lossy, format (such as WAV). Then, edit that converted file and convert it back to MP3. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-please/538073/7 "2010-05-15T02:35:43Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > If you can, find some sort of MP3 converter that will convert from MP3 to some other, non-lossy, format (such as WAV). Then, edit that converted file and convert it back to MP3. Even better if you can work with the raw WAV files.