Windows Media Player + Lame Encoder

are there any ways of combining the best MP3 encoder which is Lame, to work with windows media player, because i have heard that the MP3 encoder that comes built into windows media player is rather poor and lacks any real configurable options to improve quality

also, windows media player seem to just default to using stereo mode instead of the far superior joint stereo which is much better sound wise

the reason i do not use a stand alone ripper is obvious, windows media player is great for getting album art and track names and arranges my albums very well, it is just a shame of the poor sound quality on offer

If your rip with other software then load the rips up with media player it'll still download the album art. Not a solution but a mere observation.

Buy yourself a nice big portable hard drive and rip it in WAV format.

i wish microsoft would use quality codecs instead of substandard crap, fraunhofer is a load of crap, they definitely have not got a clue how to do things, i bet microsoft sound engineers have ear muffs on if they think that what they offer is anything worth a damn

i do not want to add things to windows media player library because it sometimes messes the tags up and misses information, also, i need to transfer my music files to my music device and WAV is far too big and unrealistic to use

I'm not a 'sound' officionado but why not import into Audacity and export to .mp3 - they provide a plug-in to do this which is Lame built specifically for Audacity.

Audacity

i wish microsoft would use quality codecs instead of substandard crap, fraunhofer is a load of crap

Fraunhofer, the people who invented the MP3 format and standard?

they definitely have not got a clue how to do things, i bet microsoft sound engineers have ear muffs on if they think that what they offer is anything worth a damn

If you can tell the difference between a 320kbps Lame encoded MP3 file, and a Windows Media bundled encoder 320kbps MP3 file, then you must have golden ears. In fact, I'd go as far as to say in a repeated blind A-B test, you'd only be right 50% of the time. The same can be said for the various WMA formats.

i do not want to add things to windows media player library because it sometimes messes the tags up and misses information, also, i need to transfer my music files to my music device and WAV is far too big and unrealistic to use

So you don't want to use the Windows Media Player library, or their encoder. I think you're using the wrong software. If you're only using it for the way it stores your files, there are hundreds of ripping programs which are fully configurable and can be set up to work identically.

it is only that windows media player seems to do the best job at album arrangement, but it is not so good at adding things to its library

i am only having a harmless rant so dont think i am having a break down, why do people on these audiophile websites like hydrogenaudio, say that lame is best and not fraunhofer or anyone elses MP3 encoders

why do people on these audiophile websites like hydrogenaudio, say that lame is best and not fraunhofer or anyone elses MP3 encoders

A good number of people on audiophile websites say that to hear music as it's intended you need to replace all the wiring in your house with oxygen free silver coated snake oil filled twin and earth.

There's also a number which say you have to use gold plated optical connections for the best audio quality.

In other words, much of the time they talk nonsense. The only possible way to know which is the best encoder for your particular situation is for you to test it and see which you prefer. Audio compression generally relies on filtering out sounds which the human ear can't hear or process, meaning there's less data to store. Some people will be able to hear these changes (everyone can if the compression is turned up enough!), and some will take a dislike to a specific codec because of the filtering that it performs. Other people might prefer that filtering to other encoders, because it suits their hearing, or the equipment they are using.

You can make a much bigger difference in sound quality by altering the positioning of your headphones than by changing MP3 encoder.

i will just plump with ripping to MP3 with windows media player, i will do it at 320 for maximum compatibility and quality