Any plans for lossless MP3, WMA & OGG editing?

[user73859]

If GoldWave could include the ability to edit and re-save compressed music with NO effect on the unedited parts, it would be a milestone.

I've tried a few lossless MP3 trimmers and faders but they have crude interfaces, or force you to open the files in other programs to get an accurate time-mark. They do the job but lack finesse.

My main goal is to edit existing compressed tracks vs. re-ripping them from scratch during "mass production." With the difficulty of achieving gapless playback on mobile devices, it would be convenient to fade existing tracks you forgot were seamless. Normally, I rip to WAV and do laborious edits, followed by a GoldWave batch conversion.

Editing can be done effectively (outside of GoldWave) in MP3, but is it even possible with WMA and OGG? I think it would be a project well worth the effort.

[GoldWave Inc.]

I think there is a good reason why there are not any really good "direct" editors for compressed audio. Editing audio in compressed form is very limited and coarse. Even just playing or displaying the waveform requires that the audio be decompressed first. Edit points would be confined to block boundaries rather than zero-crossing points. Doing the most basic effect, like a volume change, may require decoding and re-encoding the affected section of audio anyway (though I believe MP3 files can be hacked for volume changes without re-encoding). There are also many other complications involved in creating a program to work directly with all the different formats (like WMA and Ogg).

Chris

[user73859]

Very true, but basic cutting and fading seems to work well enough. I've tried two downloadable apps: "mpTrim" and "mp3DirectCut." The former has no waveform display but the latter does, and it lets you trim with good precision. If you cut a piece from the middle of a track you tend to get subtle "blip" noises, but start/end cutting & fading works well. I'd like to be able to do that seamlessly in my main sound editor to fix rip errors or alter the gain. Re-ripping the whole file can be laborious.

I think there is a good reason why there are not any really good "direct" editors for compressed audio. Editing audio in compressed form is very limited and coarse. Even just playing or displaying the waveform requires that the audio be decompressed first. Edit points would be confined to block boundaries rather than zero-crossing points. Doing the most basic effect, like a volume change, may require decoding and re-encoding the affected section of audio anyway (though I believe MP3 files can be hacked for volume changes without re-encoding). There are also many other complications involved in creating a program to work directly with all the different formats (like WMA and Ogg).

Chris

[audioman]

Hi,
There's an excellent program called "mp3 Gain" availiable at www.mp3gain.sourceforge.net.
With it you can adjust or set the gain on individual or batch mp3 files.
It works great and it comes free or by donation.
Check it out!
Cheers,
Fred