To my mind this giveaway is reasonably attractive. Many audio converters convert music, but Total Audio Converter puts the resulting files to my iTunes. I do appreciate that.

:( It worked this morning, now went to YouTube to convert another song and it does nothing! I have uninstalled and reinstalled and still nothing. Should have known that it was to good to be true! I'm uninstalling yet again and looking else where to get what I need. Such a pity as I loved it earlier!

You Tube downloading stops at 50% of each song, so it is not working for me. Any idea?

Quick query for those who are more knowledgable on audio conversion programs - converting a BOOK ON TAPE to .mp3 so my wife can play them on her phone while she is traveling. I am looking for:

1) VBR in MONO, I assume MP3 though WMA will also work.
2) The ability to convert/rip from her CD with a track every 2-4 minutes to maybe 3-4 tracks per CD, i.e. every 10-15 minutes. The phone's player does not permit playlists or playing all the files in one folder - yes, I know she needs a better phone but we cannot afford a dataplan.
3) The ability to do this ripping automatically just switching CD's, some of her BOOKS ON TAPE have 12-20 discs. To automate I will happily rip each CD to one track - I'm not listening to them anyway.

This is a awesome program! It is so easy to use. There is a song that I could only listen to on youtube, but now I can listen to it on my desktop! I love this program! Thanks GOTD!

@Tranmontane "At the risk of sounding ignorant (maybe a bit naive about this point) — is there a way to “divide up” the programmes one has on the desktop, or from the Start Menu, so that they are in various easy-to-find “folders”??"

Right-click on the "Start" button. Select "Open All Users". That will bring up Windows Explorer to edit the Start menu. You can create folders, and drag and drop applications into whatever categories make sense to you, just like you arrange files. No extra software required.

Well, converting youtube to mp3, i think many apps can do that task like handbrake, snowfox audio converter, factoryformat etc. If you can provide many conversion options, it'll be so good!

There is of course this FREE one too:>>

http://apps.foxtab.com/audioconverter/

#23 - Tranmontane: If your desktop is cluttered with shortcuts to various programs or files, I suggest that you create two folders on your desktop - one named "Program Shortcuts" and the other named "Files."

Then it's a simple matter of dragging and dropping each item of clutter into the appropriate folder. (If there are shortcuts that you regularly use, you can leave them on the desktop if you wish - just try to get as many of them off the desktop as possible).

Once you've completed this process, not only will you have a much cleaner desktop, but you'll probably discover that your computer now runs noticeably FASTER - since it doesn't have to continually re-draw all of those individual icons on the desktop all the time.

Rearranging everything on your Start Menu is a little more complex, since there are actually multiple start menus - one for "Administrator," one for "All Users," and one for each registered User. It can be done manually - by creating new folders and moving shortcuts into them, but as others have indicated there are some freeware utilities that will do this quite nicely. If you're not comfortable messing around with such things it's better to leave them alone, as you can end up "losing" programs if you foul things up by not placing a folder in the right location in the Start Menu structure.

(I'm betting that when you click on the "Start" button and hover on "All Programs," the start menu fills up your entire desktop, and the program you're looking for is almost impossible to find! I've been there - it's no fun at all!)

Sorry this comment isn't relevant to today's offering, but I've seen far too many people running XP on older systems with cluttered desktops - and they ALL complain about how slow their systems run. While the suggestion above may not turn your 6-year-old laptop into a speed demon, it may make it tolerable until you can afford to upgrade your hardware.

23. Tranmontane: I also have XP, and it wasn't until Tidy Start Menu was a GotD in 2010 that I even thought to rearrange, or sort, all my many programs (I had 4 columns at that point, and couldn't see the right-most portion!).

There were many tips on how to sort programs without needing to install a third-party program, and I will quote one of the more useful ones:

"I usually sort my programs by going into the start menus folder which can usually be found (in XP) via the following path:
C:/Documents and Settings/Your Various User Account(s)/Start Menu/Programs. From here you can create whatever custom folders you wish and place the appropriate program folders within, even creating sub folders. It takes very little time to sort it all and you end up with a satisfyingly small start menu programs menu that’s easy to navigate. New programs can either be drag and dropped into the appropriate folders or going through the path above and copying them into the appropriate folder."

Note: to further sort, click ‘Start > All Programs’ and then drag folders or programs to wherever you want them.

Hope this helps!

@Tranmontane, #23
No special tools or additional software needed:
For Windows XP installed to your C:\ drive, if you install a program as accessible by all accounts, use Windows Explorer to navigate to
> C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
If you load a program as accessible only from the account which installed it, then navigate to
> C:\Documents and Settings\[user account name]\Start Menu\Programs
In either case, create the program group folders and assign them your chosen group names, then drag and drop existing program launch icons into the appropriate folders. When you install new programs and accept the creation of a program launch icon during the program installation process, it will usually be created directly within the Programs folder, so you can then drag and drop into the appropriate folder or create a new folder for your new program.

#26: "I think that’s because VBR audio can be problematic… If it works for you, great, & you’re right that it’s more efficient — there’s just a lot of things you can normally do with an audio file that when/if it’s VBR you can’t."

I am not aware of anything you can't do with a VBR file compared to CBR. Could you please explain your experience?

In my opinion Clone 2 Go is the the best and it is FREE I have been using it for a year now and there is nothing to beat it.
If one company can do it so can another, yes of course charge multi users or commercial users as most likely they would use the product to enhance their own business products and it is only fair as they would be making a proffit wheras us private users have no way.

To #23 Try True Launch Bar. You can include a folder with a name you choose (eg, "Audio Rippers") and put various shortcuts in that and they will open as a drop down menu. I now have all of my programs in a one column menu (controllable width) on one side of my screen and access by type of program. Saves a lot of searching, you don't have to remember so many names and is fairly inexpensive. Has also been given away on GOTD a few times so you might want to check that out in the archives. Good Luck.

@ mike. " 2) search your drive for those 2 files, & if found, re-register them with Windows."
How to re-register those 2 files? What would happen if i don't do that? Would my other audio related programs affected by that?
thanks a lot as always!

To add to my comment on #28, if this doesn't work for my needs, does anyone have any recommendations for free software I can download elsewhere? Would really appreciate it.

My concern is the same as Derek's #22. I need to convert WMA w/ DRM so that it can play in my MP3 player. Will this do it? I have been looking for a long time for a free program to do it! I have audio books that I really want to listen to when I'm on the go.

Thanks!

Be AWARE. In reply to Post #3.

DVDSoft is a great free product, as you say.
It touts itself to be free of spyware and adware.

What it does NOT tell you is that you must be careful on installing it. The "Recommended" way will change your home page and your search toolbar to ASK. So, if you do not want that to happen, then uncheck the "Recommended" install way and do the "Custom" install where you can UNCHECK the installation of the ASK toolbar, homepage, etc.

#12: "... some programs don’t really produce true flac which is the only way to truly back-up your CDs with the original quality. Also, don’t bother trying to convert an MP3 or any other file to flac. It’s like trying to get blood from a turnip….or make a fuzzy photo clearer."

If it helps...
When anyone is working with audio/video/images they have the choice of saving to a lossless or lossy format, e.g. a .tif or .bmp image has all the picture data, while a .jpg file is smaller because the process threw less noticeable data out. That's how/why mp3 is smaller than .wav, why AVC is smaller than mjpeg video etc. FLAC [flac.sourceforge.net] is a lossless format just like .wav, only files are smaller. Converting the .wav files on a CD, &/or converting the sampling rate from the CD's 44.1 will lose some [hopefully very slight] amount of quality, & you'll lose less if you convert to a lossless format, whether it's FLAC or lossless .wma or something else. Avoiding that sort of quality loss is why you digitally copy [Rip] the original .wav files from a audio CD rather than (re)record in the 1st place. [Note that if you're *really* serious about quality, research your audio hardware to find out how (if/as necessary) to bypass conversion from 44.1 to 48 internally in your hardware when playing.]

Now whether you're working with audio, video, or images, going from one lossy format to another lossy format loses more quality than going lossy to lossless -- the encoding process for a lossy format is designed to toss out data. Converting mp3 to .wav or FLAC can't do anything about the data that's been already lost, but the process won't intentionally lose even more. When all you've got is mp3 audio, or jpg images, or compressed video, if/when you're going to do any work with it, it can be to your advantage to save it in a lossless format 1st, then optionally go back to a lossy format when you're done. And if you're going to work with audio on a CD, most of the time work with it as-is, then convert to whatever when you're done.

* * *

#14: "Can this extract audio from DVD?"

No... For Video DVDs without DRM check PgcDemux or DGIndex [part of dgmpgdec], both free -- the 2nd can also convert/save to .wav.

* * *

#18: "It always seems that any audio converter neglects to offer VBR in at least one of these three common formats."

I think that's because VBR audio can be problematic... If it works for you, great, & you're right that it's more efficient -- there's just a lot of things you can normally do with an audio file that when/if it's VBR you can't.

* * *

#21: "@GeekAndProud #3
“How they try to sell you the product by putting pictures of Awards from downloading websites (that don’t exist anymore like (…))”
- – - -
This sort of comment is posted more and more frequently all over the net since a couple of months. You’re quite right to feel frustrated about this behaviour."
- – - -

NOT disagreeing, IMHO it's Caveat emptor -- Let The Buyer Beware... Doesn't matter if you're buying a car or an mp3 player, putting down cash for expensive software or downloading a program that's open source, there's someone that's going to tell you it's the best thing in the world. Often they're wrong, sometimes they lie, & this includes high dollar companies that you wouldn't expect to do that sort of thing. Gov regulation usually doesn't help -- e.g. we've used cfl bulbs for years, have had several explode [watch for heat discoloration at the white base], yet the gov chooses to outlaw our halogen pedestal floor lamps because if you reach your hand 6 1/2 feet in the air over a lit bulb, it's hot!

Reviews can help when/if there are more than one from consumer oriented sites, organizations etc... One review at one advocate site doesn't mean much because the reviewer could have been, ummm, I'll politely say less knowledgeable. Magazine & software sites may get paid, &/or may pay someone by the word to crank out something quick. But ironically [maybe perversely] as consumers have become more knowledgeable & assertive, trained ourselves to ignore those posted 5 star review awards you talk about, we've helped create an environment where sellers feel free, maybe even feel expected to post bogus stuff, knowing the majority will never ever call their bluff. I imagine more of us should probably check, & complain when justified -- maybe if more of us did it might even lead to some sort of informal standards?

There is NO media info (albun name,artist, track# etc) when converting from WMA to MP3.
The title info is changed to the file name:
What Child Is This?
is changed to:
01 What Child Is This-
... this product is useless to me.

Total Audio Converter is a nice front end for several free apps like FLVExtract, Bass, & Lame -- IOW once you tell it what you want to do it starts up the relevant app, e.g. Lame.exe, then gets out of the way. That isn't a bad thing, since apps like Lame.exe are good but more difficult to use programs, & it can save you from having to perform multiple steps manually. While it's easy to use, does its job well enough, & comes with a decent help file, Total Audio Converter doesn't let you add any filtering [e.g. normalization], doesn't do 5.1/7.1 audio, doesn't do AC3, & tops out at 16 bit 48 MHz. I also want to mention that if you install/uninstall Total Audio Converter you should probably either 1) check your other media-related apps as today's GOTD includes & registers two fairly common files, RealMediaSplitter.ax & wavdest.ax, or 2) search your drive for those 2 files, & if found, re-register them with Windows. Or just set a Restore Point in win7, backup etc., which isn't a bad idea before you try out most any software.

Using Microsoft's Windiff, today's GOTD version of Total Audio Converter is newer & smaller than the trial download, though most files are identical. Once installed the program's .exe file + the bass files are packed [compressed into a smaller file size], which may set off some AV software -- since you can't as easily look inside or analyze a packed file it's common for mal-ware to be packed, & so AV software may automatically flag any packed files as bad or suspect. In addition to registering the 2 .ax files above, setup also registers axTotalConverter.dll or axTotalConverter64.dll -- though total adds vs. changes will vary depending on what you have installed already, in the minimal XP Mode VM I recorded 277 new registry entries. The program's folder holds 60 files, 29 folders, taking up ~16 MB -- a Softplicity folder's also added to User Application Data [XP] or User AppData Roaming [win7]. Note that not all the files included with Total Audio Converter are the latest versions, & Note that installation/activation writes to the User section of the registry, so do both in every Windows profile where you want or plan to use Total Audio Converter.

Since conversion depends on apps like the Lame encoder, quality at any given setting should be the same using that encoder elsewhere [e.g. using Lame with with Audacity]. If you search [Google/Bing] for something like "Batch Audio Converter" you'll find the results dominated by payware & shareware apps/sites, but I think you'll find better software checking forums for what loads of people have found works best over the years -- peer review does tend to keep things honest. FWIW videohelp.com, while obviously video-centric lists audio apps that can do batch conversions in its Tool section, & portableapps.com also hosts versions of apps like fre:ac set up for their launcher. Fre:ac [freac.org] itself is similar to Total Audio Converter, but while it adds some options & works portably, it's not as nice looking or as easy to use IMHO, if that matters to you. Another alternative would be to use a cataloging app like MediaMonkey, which can convert audio files/formats along with keeping track of your collection, gathering/storing info etc. All in all while I don't see anything wrong with Total Audio Converter, but I imagine some people will just wish it did more.

@Craig #7, "This is definitely a keeper that I will be glad to have in my Audio Tools folder..."

At the risk of sounding ignorant (maybe a bit naive about this point) -- is there a way to "divide up" the programmes one has on the desktop, or from the Start Menu, so that they are in various easy-to-find "folders"??

I have WinXP, and have yet to find a way to easily sort all the programmes from GAOTD (and all the others I have) into "folders" of similar types of programmes where I can easily locate them. They are scattered over the desktop, more or less in the order of acquisition, apparently. I know you are supposed to be able to arrange them in alphabetical order, but that isn't necessarily very useful -- having different "Folders" of Audio, Video or Utility programmes, etc., would be....

About the programme offered today -- I tend to use SWITCH from http://www.nch.com.au, and that seems to do more or less whatever I need to do -- and it is free, too. But I will give today's offering a go, to see if it brings any added utility.

Thanks GAOTD team!

Anyone know if this will convert drm protected WMA files? I have a bunch that I bought in the bad old days when some sellers put protection on paif for music. I paid for them and own them so I have the rights to play them so there is no illegality about it, but I want to be able to transfer them to my mp3 player.

If this wouldn't work, can anyone recommend a free program that would?

Hi,
@GeekAndProud #3
"How they try to sell you the product by putting pictures of Awards from downloading websites (that don’t exist anymore like (...))"
- - - -

This sort of comment is posted more and more frequently all over the net since a couple of months. You're quite right to feel frustrated about this behaviour. But things might (and in some rare(?) cases actually ARE) a lot worse. You may (e.g.) unknowingly land on some X-rated site, be redirected to some scammer,... You name it.

The comments (which some people feel nescessary to post) in "defence" of dubious website management and related issues, mostly sound like "it's for free, dude, what the heck are you complaining about". Those people really should think twice before commenting on anything at all, IMHO that is.

We all know for years that the internet is infested with all kinds of b*shit, and we also know that there's little or next to nothing that can be done about it. Perhaps the creation of a worldwide/netwide DB containing sites that have been dormant for (how many?) years, sites that are actually dead (and have no redirect installed), reports on ''illigit'/fictituous references to awards (and other prize-like goodies)...

I have also noticed that really huger than huge sites (e.g. supranational organisations like Europa, Worldbank, IMF, WTO, US-Gov,...) do not suffer from these practices. But these are so complex, have so many child/parent branches that navigating them is like Colombus finding the Americs starting blindfolded from Alpha Centauri ;-)

I'm fairly happy though that GAOTD does not suffer itself from those frustrating shortcomings. That (starting) developers may offer products which are in themselves OK but publish "supporting stuff" that leads nowhere to is their own responsibility, and will sooner or later 'backflash'.

About today's offer: it looks fine as is and I'll give it a go... After work late tonight.

Greetz,
Pat.

Hi. Thank you for good job,we can get really useful stuff for free, but can you tell me why I activated Total Audio Converter and I didnt get any serial number so that I could use it later if I want to install it again after formatting disk ?

In readme.txt is written :

"You have to install and activate it before the Giveaway offer for the software is over."

so I can install it only one time on my computer because it is gonna be expired in 17 hours .

This program works very nicely to convert youtube videos to mp3...so I can play them on my phone's SD card. Thanks Total Audio and GOTD! The interface is clean and the automatic downloading feature works flawlessly. A real keeper. And the company has a good website, with a dandy instructional video which really helps.

I haven't tried out all its features yet but Total Audio Converter has some very nice ones.
What hit me right off is that when encoding into the most commonly used audio file types; (.mp3, .wma and .aac) VBR (variable bit rate) is offered. Very nice! While converting to .aac it appears that VBR is the default and that CBR (constant bit rate) is not even offered (that's fine with me). For .mp3 and .wma file types you have the option.
It always seems that any audio converter neglects to offer VBR in at least one of these three common formats. Variable bit rate is considered the most elegant economical compression because the bit rate goes up to represent more complex audio passages when needed, then the bit rate goes down when less resolution is needed to cover less complex passages. You can easily achieve a 15 to 25% smaller file size with the same audio quality.
Tests have shown that both mp3 and aac file types using VBR are both extremely efficient when compared to common mp3's set at a Constant Bit Rate.
I have not seen any tests on .wma file types while using VBR, but I'm sure the results are similar.
Also the GUI is very clear. You can quickly do conversions into several different audio file types for comparisons between them.

Thank you GAOTD and CoolUtils
Dale

I thought the way it downloaded and converted the audio directly from a YouTube url was rather neat... convert a file first, though to establish the default save folder.

I installed Total Audio Converter quite easily. Unlike PhilS I didn't have a lot of audio converters around:) So I will stick to this giveaway - free, straightforward, rips CDs and uploads my music directly to iTunes. Thanks GAOTD team!

Installed with no issues on Win 7 Pro 32 Bit.

Ran a comparison with the above mentioned Free Studio and conversion times were comparable.

It has a nice, clean, easy to follow interface and the batch conversion feature is most useful.

I wish the batch conversion could extend to using different folders around the system at the same time when selecting for conversion but that may be something that can be added.

All in all a nice program that does what it says on the tin.

Can this extract audio from DVD?

Well HOWDY!

Free is free...so, giving this away free is cool. But, with all due respect...most people (in my humble opinion)have conversion software on the computer already, so what's the deal here? Yeah, this software does stuff...but it doesn't do anything more than others have done before.

Nice...but, get a life.

-Jeeem-

If I can I would just like to add a couple of things I forgot.
The reason I mentioned flac verification test is because some programs don't really produce true flac which is the only way to truly back-up your CDs with the original quality. Also, don't bother trying to convert an MP3 or any other file to flac. It's like trying to get blood from a turnip....or make a fuzzy photo clearer.

Total Audio Converter also had the option to look-up the music titles, band and album title when ripping to my computer from disc. It never connected to the internet so I guess it just read from my CD. It did not write any metadata which is cool.

Any GOTD regular has about 30 different ways to get audio from youtube but it's nice to be able to choose the audio format. Too bad this won't get audio from Pandora. :-)

#8 Phaedron, Sounds like you need a DRM remover? Put aa audio format stripper in bing and check out the first 2 or 3 hits or aa audio format drm remover in google, (again, the 1st 3 hits.)
Or just check out FairUse4WM. There is a good article at lifehacker about it.

Freeware option: http://www.formatoz.com/. Format Factory. Ashraf gave it a good report and so do I. See what works best for you....

Had this very need yesterday to batch convert audio files from another format. Tried a previous GOTD offering - Sound Editor Deluxe (which I'm very happy with) - but it couldn't do batch conversions. So this is timely. I'll give it a whirl.

I downloaded and tried Free Studio by dvdvideosoft described above by (3) for comparison. Single file conversion speed was comparable.

I think the Total Audio Converter user interface is much cleaner and easier to use. Free Studio drills down through multiple windows which I think is clumsy and too cutesey for my taste. Also it makes noise which I find annoying. I prefer to navigate directory trees directly as in the Folder list that Windows Explorer presents. TAC does this very effectively from a single window with only one pop-up when the destination format is selected. YMMV. TAC is much smaller by a factor of about 6 and seems to do most of the same conversions. I like it. I'm keeping it. Thanks.

Audio can be very restrictive in the aa format. It plays on only a very few devices.
Seems as though this program won't fix that. :-(

I appreciate the free alternatives provided above as always. This registered fine on W7/x64.
Watch the video HERE and it should save you some time learning how to use it. It does have a nice and simple interface.

I performed two tests. The first test was to convert an album I already had ripped to my computer from .wma to .mp3 and it worked great.

The second test was to rip a CD to my computer to FLAC format (which makes the files large but of the highest quality possible.) It worked great. I even analyzed the .flac file with the freeware programs, GSpot and AuCDtect and they passed my tests. I then listened to the flacs using Foobar2000 and they sounded great.

This is definitely a keeper that I will be glad to have in my Audio Tools folder.

Successfully extracted the audio track from an mp4 video and was reasonably fast at it. That is the particular feature that I was looking for. It has a good selection of options for the destination file and the source selection GUI is very easy to use. It also converted FLAC to mp3 quickly and easily.
This looks like a good useful application.

Thanks

Weird:

The GOTD version: Total Audio Converter v.5.1.0.42

The version on CoolUtils.com: Total Audio Converter v.3.0.1.88 (on the page actually listed as v.3.0.1.54)

They appear to be really different versions, not only visually (even though they are both registered by the same GOTD activation)... Just wondering what the actual difference is.

Slow, not up to dba poweramp standards. Quality's decent.

Thumbs up :
-Clean interface
-Fair speed process
-Multiple languages

Thumbs down :
-How they try to sell you the product by putting pictures of Awards from downloading websites (that don't exist anymore like http://download2you.com/ and are unknwown to most of us).
-DVDvideosoft offers more than Total Audio Converter does and it's free and a lot more user friendly (http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm)
-CoolUtils try to show their software as a very powerful software for a tiny price but you can find better for free and the description they are giving to their software is just killing it... too much is too much "everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. That's what we had in mind developing Total Audio Converter. "
-It offers Youtube audio download but once Youtube will make a new version (every 3-4weeks) the software will be outdated and will need an update and oh surprise you got to pay :)

I'll pass on this one.

I am a music fan and I always use Clone2Go Free Audio Converter to help me convert music files. The feature I love most is that it can let me clip the audio file that is suitable for a ringtone.

I liked it last time, been using it, and happy to have the update. Thanks.