From: Neon John <jgd_at_johngsbbq.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:28:31 -0500

Sure. I've done literally thousands of audio books using CDEX, LAME
MP3 encoder and MP3_Gain. I continue to be amazed at the sloppiness
and crazy sample rates some book rippers use. I just resampled a
batch that was originally sampled at 320kbps!!

All three utilities are free.

For CDex, I use 32kbps, MPEG II.5, "LAME MP3 Encoder"quality 2, fixed
bit rate, mono and "output sample rate - auto". I select "look in
subfolders", "preserve directory structure", set a separate
destination directory and select "delete originals".

In MP3_Gain, I select "preserve time and date", "add subfolders",
"minimize to tray". I set the level to 92 db. I select the RIGHT
folder button (add folders) and click on the top of the tree of
directories to be converted. I then select the RIGHT track button and
select "constant gain".

This combo resamples to 32kbps (no ringing or harmonics using LAME)
and normalized the output level so they all play at the same volume.

For processing, I have three directories

Incoming
resampled
finished

CDex is set to look in "incoming" and to deposit in "resampled".
MP3_gain looks in "resampled". Unfortunately it can't move files so I
have to go back and manually move the processed ones to "finished"
where they lay until I move them to my JBR and to CD.

I have a spreadsheet where I keep track of what I have, what I've
listened to and what CD they're stored on. I keep the CDs on the
spindles they came on (about 500 now) in a fireproof safe.

When I'm ready to burn off a batch of books, I run the following batch
file by clicking on it in file manager. The batch file is located in
"finished"

dir /b/ad >>../list.txt

This generates a raw directory listing and puts it in the upper
directory that is home to my audio books. I use a standard format of
<book name> - <author> without the "<>" of course.

I call up the list.txt file in VIM and do a :%s/ - /-/ to get rid of
the spaces around the dash. I use the spaces to make the file names
easier to read. In Excel, I do a data import, select "-" as the
delimiter and read in the list. Then list.txt is deleted.

The format of the spreadsheet is:

Book Name Author Status Disc # Comments

Status is "read" if I liked it, "READ" if I didn't and blank if I
haven't yet read it. Disc # is the CD number the book is stored on.
If you want the actual spreadsheet, drop me a note and I'll send it to
you.

Resampled to 32kbps, from 3 to 7 books will fit on a CD. I'm going to
convert to DVD-R one of these days as soon as I'm sure the technology
is reliable over the long term.

I keep a couple hundred of the latest, best books on my Linux server
for ready access. I keep probably 50 on my 80gb JBR at any one time.
I've been known to jump back and forth between books, depending on my
mood. That's where the bookmarking feature is sooo handy.

I have my JBR set to mono, treble to +6, bass to -3 and autovolume to
25ms (the fastest). I have three config files, music, books and
random. Each file sets the JBR to the optimum setting for the medium.
Random is for music, of course. Nothing like accidentally setting
random for a book :-)


On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 04:17:05 -0500, "David Pedersen"
<dav-ped_at_frisurf.no> wrote:

>On my JB I have some 1200+ files that contains Audiobooks. Quite a few of
>them are delivered from the producer as a 80kbps, stereo track. First of
>all, this makes some flicking sound in the very far left/right channels,
>while playing in stereo mode. Next, 80kbps is a rather unnecessary high
>bitrate for speech. I would greatly appriciate to have it downsized to
>48kbps.
>
>Does anybody in here know of a simple software that easy can be set to run
>in Batch-mode, and that will convert my mp3's into mono, 48kbps files. Thing
>is that they already are sorted into different subdirs under my Audiobook
>folder. So, if the software even could take care of the job, as well with
>the files in all the subfolders, that would be GREAT! And, just one more
>thing: I am blind, so all these super graphical softwares won't do. I need a
>software that can be easily operated with the screenreader.
>
>Thanks, all!
>David
>
>

---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN

Received on 2005-11-03