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Mass .WAV compression utility?

I've got over 500 gigs of .wav files ripped in a nice orderly directory/file structure on a server like:

[Drive:]\My Music\[Artist]\[Album]\[TrkNo]-[Title].wav

I tend to use iTunes for playback off my Mac Mini and foobar 2000 for my WinXP boxes. While you can't "tag" a .wav, there is a nice Applescript I can run in iTunes, and masstagger in foobar, to allow me to build databases inside each program that recover tag information from the directory structure.

Now I want to create a shadow directory of everything in mp3 or aac format for portable use. All the mp3s I've made have been with EAC calling LAME as an external function when the disk was getting ripped. So, my question is...

...Does anyone know of a utility to mass convert .wavs to .mp3s, and either echo the directory structure on output or convert existing directory structure info into mp3 tags?
edesilva
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
The ripping to .wav files took months. The mac just finished converting the .wav files to .aac--took about 100 hours...
kennyt's avatar
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
Tell me about it! I started on 9/17 and only have 400 or so disks in... And I have been pretty diligent about putting them in, and in, and in...
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
If I had to do it over again...

1. I think I'd be more diligent about filling in album release date information when ripping.

2. While I organized later rips as:

[Drive:]/My Music/[Artist]/[Album]/[Trk_Title].wav

I really should have done:

[Drive:]/My Music/[Artist]/[Date]/[Album]/[Trk_Title].wav

3. When ripping compilations, I really should have put them in a separate /compilations directory--the large number of Artists I have with only one song makes the directory structure ugly.

Good luck!
kennyt's avatar
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
Ed,

iTunes allows you to list compilations as such, it is a check box in the general preferences.

Hope this helps.

As for the release dates, I'm not to worried about that, and I hope using AIFF isn't going to limit me in the future....... I considered .WAV, but being a MAC guy went with AIFF.

FWIW I am doing this to have good access to all my music, and I started it to have it convienently at my disposal while cooking. Ironic that now that I have ~500 titles on the HD, they started demolishing my old kitchen today!

They say a month.....I suspect it will be longer.
edesilva OP
768 posts
 
I didn't actually use iTunes to rip, but EAC has something I'm guessing is similar--"Various Artists Naming." FBOW, it drops the tracks into the same artist/album/song.wav format, but that results in a large number of directories that are populated with one folder with one song.

Redoing the kitchen can put buying stereo equipment to shame... Next time, I'm skipping the stainless (too hard to keep fingerprints off), going for a bigger fridge (new fridges allow you to keep lots in the doors, but try refrigerating a turkey while its brining in a large stockpot), building a separate espresso machine area with plumbed in lines and built-in knockbox opening over a trashcan, putting an outlet every foot on the splash, and definitely going for a walk-in pantry. The concrete countertops came out nicely tho'.

Good luck.
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