LameXP - audio conversion

[Special]

You should really give foobar a try, and switch to it webfork, no one should use outdated software, and the year+ wait between versions on LameXP isn't worth the "well I don't want to learn a new thing/new setup/my workflow"...

Things might "seem fine" but the encoders are very outdated and who knows how many bugs get fixed in the meantime between version releases.

foobar is portable, gets updated regularly and so does the Encoder Pack (currently at 2021-01-26), you can just rename the folder to, well anything like FooConvert to not get it mixed up with your regular foobar2000 audio player install (if you are like me.).

Download foobar2000
https://www.foobar2000.org/download

At the bottom of that page you'll also need the Free Encoder Pack.
https://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack

Throw the Encoder Pack into the foobar2000 folder and you're pretty much done, then just tweak the settings to your liking and right click your audio files. As a bonus it respects your metadata and doesn't overwrite things like the "comment fields" with "Encoded with LameXP" and other crap.

[Midas]

Quick note to point out that another viable alternative for encoding, for anyone willing to deal with the CLI, is FFmpeg, which also gets updated fairly often and has the additional advantage of being multi-platform -- it even works on my Android phone, no packs or codecs needed...

[webfork]

Things might "seem fine" but the encoders are very outdated and who knows how many bugs get fixed in the meantime between version releases.

There are certainly classes of applications where outdated software means both fewer features and poor security (especially web browsers) but audio compression really doesn't move that fast.

Second, my experience software over time has been generally more positive and long lasting with open source, so my general preference is to lean towards those licenses. For example, I still use the very outdated KompoZer program at least once a year. Tools like LameXP or Fre:ac projects could potentially find a new maintainer or get forked if necessary, whereas closed projects end abruptly.

Either way, I'm not discounting Foobar and it's my player of choice due to it's terrific customization options, so I very likely will test it out with the suggestions you describe.