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[MusicMonkey]

I'm looking around for a complete ripping/encoding/burning package, and have a few questions about Media Center.

• Does it use LAME to encode MP3s?
• Can it detect & report scratches/skips/errors when ripping?
• Can it download artist & album info for music CDs, so I don't have to type that stuff in by hand?
• Can it edit WAV files with simple cut & paste, fade-in, fade-out?
• Can it merge CD tracks into a single WAV file when ripping?
• When editing MP3 tags, can it apply identical information, such as album title, to multiple files in a batch?
• Can it apply album art to MP3 tags?
• Can it apply volume levelling when burning CDs?
• Can it simply convert WAV to MP3 and MP3 to WAV?

That's it. I've found products that claim to do it all, but really don't. I just want to be sure Media Center can do all the stuff I would need. Thanks for your help!!!

[Charlemagne 8]

-Does it use LAME to encode MP3s?
Yes ... and many other formats
-Can it detect & report scratches/skips/errors when ripping?
Yes ... to an extent
-Can it download artist & album info for music CDs, so I don't have to type that stuff in by hand?
99% of the time
-Can it edit WAV files with simple cut & paste, fade-in, fade-out?
Yes ... to an extent
-Can it merge CD tracks into a single WAV file when ripping?
As in ripping Disk-at-Once? No. With some burners, it can burn DAO, though.
-When editing MP3 tags, can it apply identical information, such as album title, to multiple files in a batch?
Yes. Very good at that.
-Can it apply album art to MP3 tags?
Yes.
-Can it apply volume levelling when burning CDs?
Yes
-Can it simply convert WAV to MP3 and MP3 to WAV?
Yes

[MusicMonkey]

About merging audio tracks into a single WAV: You know how some songs don't have a 2-second gap between them, but instead play as if they were just one long song? For example, on Van Halen's first album, Eruption and You Really Got Me don't have a break between them; when you rip them, you want to merge both tracks into a single WAV file—otherwise recording them adds a 2-second gap where none existed!

Easy CD Creator has this feature; you select consecutive CD tracks and rip (merge) them as a single WAV file.

[Charlemagne 8]

With the Editor, you can merge tracks, delete sections (like the silences between) and rename, then convert to (or back to) whatever format you wish. I haven't used this feature in a few months so it may have improved but when I did use it, it worked well.
I do know what you're talking about. Rock, especially Classic Rock, segues one song into another often. Pink Floyd does it a lot. Santana's Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen are one song in most people's minds but are two tracks. Led Zeppelin's Heartbreaker and Living Loving Maid are inseparable. The Allman Brothers have a few like that. The list, I'm sure, is long. That's just what springs to mind right now.
That might be a good feature request. In the meantime, there is a workaround: You can set "Playback" to be gapless or even cross faded. With wav files and ape files (both lossless), gapless is truly gapless. MP3's always add a gap (that's my understanding, anyway). It's part of the encoder. So experimentation with cross fading would yield satisfactory results in most cases.
CVIII