I tried posting this question in the software forun, but given no response I concluded it must be the wrong forum. Sorry if I'm violating any rules for posting here as well. On my computer, I rip my audio to WMA lossless using EAC, but I keep coming back to an error where when EAC tries to start WME it flashes the DOS screen but doesn't convert. I then have to manually convert (for now, just do it in WMP) and then edit the file info in WMP as well. That all started when I upgraded to MCE, so I assume it's related. I've tried WME beta, but didn't help.

Second question, when I convert media files for playback on my Sansa e260 I've been using dbpoweramp or WMP to convert to WMA 98% (slightly smaller than 320kbps mp3) but noticed that my files still require conversion when I sync. My player supports wma and mp3 up to 320kbps (I've transferred lossless to it, but I prefer a larger quantity since there's not a big sound improvement and the files are typically 20-25MB and I only have 4GB total). What would be the recommended program and settings for conversion? I have trouble with dbpower amp and mp3 as it seems they're making it harder to do such rips. Is there a link for the Lame codec? Any recommended lossy settings?

Sorry for the long and convoluted question (and the many abbreviations). TIA for any help you can provide. Abd again, sorry for cross forum posting I was just sinking and thought this was the place to post this.

Actually, this is a post belonging to the "Audio" section.

It's worth remembering that you can always PM a moderator of the forum and ask for a post to be moved.

Since this probably isn't a Newbie question, I'll transfer it to the Audio subforum...

Hey, thanks for the move. I guess I thought my question was more about software than hardware... still thought it might be a nOOb question but there you go (woo hoo, I is advanced).

Actually, it's not quite clear what your problem is. As I read it, do you mean that you have files in WMA lossless format, but you wish to convert them to .mp3 at a suitable bitrate; the optimal being retention of most sound quality but having a smaller filesize than 320 kbps?

If this is correct, then you might have to convert from WMA lossless to .wav, then dump the resulting files into LAME for conversion to .mp3. You could try 160 or 192 kbps for the re-encoding; in my experience most people find this acceptable for listening with the quality of headphones available, and with the degree of environmental sounds you may encounter.

You can find LAME here. There's a nice GUI front end for LAME called 'RazorLAME' (here), which makes it easy to set up the options and batch processing the .wav files into .mp3.

Yeah, as I go back and read I understand the confusion. Must be all the various abbreviations . I still rip to wav using EAC and convert to lossless using Windows Audio Converter and WME9. When I had XP home EAC would take care of everything, including writing the tag files so it's a little longer. Fortunately I alread had most of my CDs ripped before MCE2005 (still around 100 to go). Just a longer process now I guess.

Thanks for the LAME link. I used to run VBR 192/320 befor lossless became integrable into DVD burning and common playback (some irrational bias against WinAmp), but my stereo is a better playback device than my portable so those minor adjustments pay off more. I'll have to play around with the settings, see what sounds best for me.

Thanks again for all of the advice. I've had nothing but positive experiences here, people always helpful and no flames/trolling, it's a really good community. Have to add friendly mods to the list.