fre:ac ~ Cross-platform Converter & Ripper


fre:ac is a free open source audio converter and CD ripper with support for various popular formats and encoders. It currently converts between mp3, MP4/M4A, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, WAV and Bonk formats.

With fre:ac you can easily rip your audio CDs to MP3 or WMA files for use with your hardware player, or convert files that do not play with other audio software. You can even convert whole music libraries retaining the folder and filename structure.

The integrated CD ripper supports the CDDB / freedb online CD database. It will automatically query song information and write it to ID3v2 or other title information tags.

Features:

  • Converter for MP3, MP4/M4A, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, WAV and Bonk formats
  • Integrated CD ripper with CDDB/freedb title database support
  • Portable application, install on a USB stick and take it with you
  • Multi-core optimized encoders to speed up conversions on modern PCs
  • Full Unicode support for tags and file names
  • Easy to learn and use, still offers expert options when you need them
  • Multilingual user interface available in 40 languages
  • Completely free and open source without a catch

freac-1.0.x-en

www.freac.org

Nightingale ~ Extensible Audio Player


Nightingale chirps your favorite tunes! A beautiful interface with a wide range of supported audio formats, Last.fm and multi-platform support!

nightingale-windows-screenshot

getnightingale.com
Add-ons

* A descendant of Songbird

Sonic Visualiser ~ View & Analyze Audio Files


The aim of Sonic Visualiser is to be the first program you reach for when want to study a musical recording rather than simply listen to it.

We hope Sonic Visualiser will be of particular interest to musicologists, archivists, signal-processing researchers and anyone else looking for a friendly way to take a look at what lies inside the audio file.

sv-3.0-win-thumb

www.sonicvisualiser.org
www.sonicvisualiser.org/download
www.vamp-plugins.org/download
Introduction Video

Amarok ~ Cross Platform Audio Player


Amarok is a powerful music player, with multi-language support, for Macs, Unix/Linux and Windows. It has an intuitive interface and makes playing the music you love, and discovering new music, easier than ever before – and it looks good doing it!

Features:

  • Dynamic playlists matching different criteria
  • Collection managing with rating support
  • Support for basic iPod, MTP and UMS music player devices
  • Integrated Internet services: last.fm, Magnatune, Ampache and more.
  • Scripting support
  • Cover manager
  • Replaygain support

apps.kde.org/amarok
amarok.kde.org
Downloads
Documentation

Last.fm ~ Scrobblers


Last.fm is a web service that scrobbles, or tracks and publishes, your music profile and listening history.

Download software to scrobble from anywhere and from any service.

Official:
Last.fm
Github

Android:
github.com/simple-last-fm-scrobbler

Browser plugins:
Last.fm scrobbler for Chrome
scroblr.fm

Cross-platform:

github.com/kawaiiDango/pano-scrobbler
github.com/dumbie/ZuseMe

Foobar2000:
github.com/gix/foo_scrobble ~ newer
github.com/zfoxer/foo_scrobbler_mac
www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_audioscrobbler

Web:

openscrobbler.com
universalscrobbler.com

foo_verifier ~ Foobar Audio File Verifier


Checks specified media files for decoding errors. Note that with most formats, its accuracy is limited to detecting errors that abort the decoding process.

Capture_foo_verifier_results
Website
Documentation

After installing this Foobar plugin, you’ll have two new menu choices under the right mouse click context menu: Utilities > Verify integrity and Utilities > Verify album with Accuraterip

It’s also possible to see more information if you go to File > Preferences > Advanced > Tools > File Integrity Verifier and enable Verbose AccurateRip Output

Lacinato ABX ~ Comparing Track Quality


Lacinato ABX is the only cross-platform ABX and shootout blind testing software for audio. It allows double-blind ABX testing of audio files (seeing if you can tell which file is being played), as well as “shootouts” (picking your favorite from a shuffled, anonymized list). Or you can just use it as a convenient way to switch between files (maintaining the current play position, if you like.

Lacinato ABX

Website
Web Service ~ online version
ABX Testing ~ Wikipedia

Sox ~ The Swiss Army Knife Of Sound Processing


SoX is a cross-platform command line utility that can convert various formats of computer audio files into other formats. It can also apply various effects to these sound files, and, as an added bonus, SoX can play and record audio files on most platforms.

Sox
Sox sample session

Website
Features
Download
Documentation
Scripts
FAQ

Additional resources:
www.audiofaidate.org/sw/sox-dsd/
codeberg.org/sox_ng

YAFS ~ Changing Song Order On USB Sticks


Some players display, or play files, in the order that the file was originally copied to a USB drive or stick. YAFS (Yet Another FAT Sorter) allows the order to be changed to whatever you prefer. YAFS is a multi-platform, open source, freeware, command line utility with a GUI (Graphical User Interface).

image2

Website
Visual YAFS ~ Frontend

ORBAN Loudness Meter ~ Loudness & Peak Display


This software simultaneously displays instantaneous peaks, VU, PPM, CBS Technology Center loudness, and ITU BS.1770 loudness. All meters include peak-hold functionality that makes the peak indications of the meters easy to see.

The software accepts two-channel stereo inputs. The VU and PPM meters are split to indicate the left and right channels. The PPM meter also displays the instantaneous peak values of the L and R digital samples. ~ Hydrogen Audio

ORBAN Meter

www.orban.com/orban/meter

foo_plorg ~ Playlist Organizer With Folders


The Foobar2000 Playlist Organizer component allows playlists to be organized into folders.

  1. Install the foo_plorg component
  2. Add a new panel or tab, then add Playlist Organizer

capture-foobar2000-dui-foo_plorg

Importing playlists using foo_plorg and foo_playlist_revive

  1. Install foo_playlist_revive
  2. Drag playlist files and drop on the Playlist Organizer panel
  3. Select Edit > Revive Dead Items

Note: The imported playlist will have the same name as the original playlist filename.

Resources:

Website
Documentation – Hydrogenaudio
foo_playlist_revive – Hydrogenaudio
Foobar2000 – How to install a component

REW ~ Room EQ Wizard


REW is free room acoustics analysis software for measuring and analyzing room and loudspeaker responses. The audio analysis features of REW help you optimize the acoustics of your listening room, studio or home theater and find the best locations for your speakers, subwoofers and listening position.

aftereq500h

www.roomeqwizard.com
www.hometheatershack.com/forums/rew-forum
sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo
Multi-Sub Optimizer
Convolver – A Convolution Plugin