Kb3 and MP3

[OneSalientOversigh]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Uninstalled.
Reinstalled.

No difference. Still doesn't recognise Lame.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Interesting. I just noticed that I don't have it either.

I get a warning whenever I start K3b, something about MP3s. I've never really read it (I rarely burn anything but ISOs), but this time I did notice that it mentions that you might need a plugin. As for where to get that plugin, try checking the repos and k3b.org.

[Princey]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

No it doesn't.

I've tried to put in all the info that I can:

Mp3, /usr/bin/lame, %f

Just tried it after entering the info manually. Doesn't work.

I definitely have lame. But k3b isn't wanting to use it.

In that same box I mentioned, that you said lame doesn't show up, do the following to manually add the information.

If when you click configure (making sure k3b external audio encoder is highlighted) the box shows up blank, then click on Add. A window shows up. Here's what to do:

Under the section General,

In the box name you put in: Mp3 (Lame)

Filename extention: mp3


Under the command section, there's a box. Enter this (copy and paste into it)

lame -h --tt %t --ta %a --tl %m --ty %y --tc %c - %f

Leave the two boxes unchecked. Click apply, then ok and close K3b completely. Make sure it's closed by checking Ksysguard under "System" on the Kmenu. When you're certain it's closed, re-open K3b and try again.

[OneSalientOversigh]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

That WORKED!

Why isn't that info put into k3b automatically?

[OneSalientOversigh]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Problem #1

Lots of errors and scratchy noises at 128kps, paranoia mode 3, "Ignore read errors" unchecked.

I've actually run the mp3 file through 3 different players - VLC media player, Amarok and Audacity. VLC and Amarok sound great but Audacity sounds crap. I think this may be one of my problems. It's got nothing to do with K3B so scratch problem #1

Problem #2

In system settings --> Advanced --> Audio Encoding --> MP3 encoder I set an average bitrate of 96kps but k3b rips it at 128kps.

update: Restarted computer and re-ripped a music file. It still remains at 128kps even though I specified 96kps in System settings.

Question: How do I adjust the bitrate? I need to rip the files into lower quality ones.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

What you're hearing in Audacity is just Audacity. I tried editing something last night, and it was terrible.

[dibl]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Audacity is very "picky" -- I've been using it to record old record albums, and I can testify that you need to work with it for awhile to get a handle on it.

Look at your "Edit>Preferences" settings -- probably you need to play with "Audio I/O" and "Quality" to get the results you want, and maybe "File Formats".

[Princey]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Problem #2

In system settings --> Advanced --> Audio Encoding --> MP3 encoder I set an average bitrate of 96kps but k3b rips it at 128kps.

update: Restarted computer and re-ripped a music file. It still remains at 128kps even though I specified 96kps in System settings.

Question: How do I adjust the bitrate? I need to rip the files into lower quality ones.

Glad that it worked. I'm not at home right now and I'm confined to a Windows machine where I am and I'm just too lazy (or maybe tired) to set up an NH server to log in remotely. But I'll fiddle around once I get home later to see why you can't get below 128kbps. Best of luck. As to why the settings weren't set, I have no clue. The only thing that could have happened was when lame got installed k3b must have been opened. If that wasn't the case, I have no clue. I never had that issue with k3b. Glad to help.

[Princey]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Update:

I tried it at home and couldn't get it. Did some research and found out that k3b doesn't have that feature built in to lower the quality or bit rate of mp3's. However, it does have that feature with the open source ogg vorbis formats. There's no word on whether it will be implemented in future versions as more support is pushed for the open source formats over the proprietary ones.

[OneSalientOversigh]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Is there some way to manipulate LAME to do this? I'm assuming that K3b uses LAME, so adjusting LAME might be the answer.

[Princey]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Is there some way to manipulate LAME to do this? I'm assuming that K3b uses LAME, so adjusting LAME might be the answer.

Yes, there is. You can manipulate LAME but you have to dig around to find it as it's not so obvious. Open up the terminal and type in

lame --longhelp

and you will get a list of commands to add to the LAME encoder. I haven't tried it myself, but it appears from the options given, that adding

-B 96

will set the maximum bitrate to 96kbps which is what you're looking for. Read the help file I pointed to and play around. Good luck.

[OneSalientOversigh]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Not certain if that will work but I will try. the reason for my uncertainty is that the maximum bitrate is 320kps. When k3b rips it creates a file of 128kps, which means that something (k3b) is telling lame what the bitrate should be. I'll give it a go and report back.

[Princey]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

That's because LAME installs inside k3b with the default settings of 128 kbps. In fact, it does the same with kaudiocreator as well. Something tells me that's the system wide default. To override that default, you must add the additional command strings. LAME will only allow a minimum bitrate of 32kbps and a maximum of 320kbps.

The default as I said earlier, is 128kpbs. To get it to change either set it in k3b or you can enter the system wide command

lame -B 96

which tells lame to change the system wide settings to all audio encoding to 96kpbs. Just remember to change it again should you want any other setting. If I were you, I'd give the k3b edit a try instead. Good luck.

[OneSalientOversigh]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

neil@neil-desktop:~$ lame -B 96
LAME version 3.96.1 (http://lame.sourceforge.net/)

usage: lame [options] <infile> [outfile]

<infile> and/or <outfile> can be "-", which means stdin/stdout.

Try:
"lame --help" for general usage information
or:
"lame --preset help" for information on suggested predefined settings
or:
"lame --longhelp"
or "lame -?" for a complete options list

neil@neil-desktop:~$
----------------

Should I go in as SU?

update: went in as Sudo. No difference in the output.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Kb3 and MP3

Doesn't look like Lame takes anything but files.

Try adding "-B 96" somewhere in that string in K3b.