Winamp 5.0 Pro Vs. CDex
 

I like Winamp, and could purchase it for the pro features and to support them, but is it really better than CDex? CDex is freeware. If anyone is aware of any differences please post them.:winamp:

Here you go!
CDex features
http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/features.php

Winamp 5 Pro features (check the "more info" also!)
http://www.winamp.com/player/

The final call is up to you, but you know what? Buy Winamp 5 Pro and give also a smal donation to CDex (via PayPal) to support future development of both nice pieces of software!!! :p :winamp:

Well, that's not the concrete answer I was looking for, but if that's the best you can say, I thank you ;)

I haven't used CDex before but I ripped a CD with winamp that absolutely would not play on any CD player and would crash Media Center. ripped all tracks perfectly and the CD is basically toast.

well, put some butter on it and you got a nice breakfast

I would,b ut the CD is too hard to get out of the toaster...why nobody told me plastic melts...

literally moments ago i ripped an entire cd with winamp and was able to play it in my cd player. bad cd drive possibly?

I use mp3 files ripped by winamp 5.01 on the radio on my car. It's a Sony CDX-M40 and all tracks play perfectly!

Are some people confusing the terms 'rip' & 'burn' here, or something?
You've certainly got me confused anyway, lol.

CDex doesn't do burning, only ripping...
and what's more, it ain't exactly legal either
(ie. afaik, they don't pay the per-copy mp3 encoding licence fee to Thomson/FhG, the holders of the MP3 patent)

@ kado
That sig of yours is a bit far out

does CDex package LAME with it? if so, they shouldn't... they should just link to it :)

i use CDex with Vorbis, so, that's legal by most accounts.

~WHEREamI

Yes, CDex ships with lame_enc

Somehow, I don't see them disappearing. Personally, I rip with CDex, then leave batches to encode with RazorLame.

Say no to software patents:

http://petition.eurolinux.org/

Not much you can do about it really.
Thomson/Fraunhofer owns the mp3 patent,
and any software which includes an mp3 encoder is expected by law to pay them the royalties on a per-copy basis (regardless of what the encoder is).

http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html

CDex uses "MPEG 1" and "MPEG 2" and "MPEG 2.5"... any diference between them?

interesting...

http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html

says that an mp3 patent-only license (because the software is developed in-house or by a 3rd party) is $0.75 for decoder (playback) and $2.50 for encoder/codec ('saving'). That makes $3.25 yet WA Pro is $15...

/me smells evilness?


(unless Nullsoft don't think that they will be paying Fraunhofer $15k a year if they charge $3.25 for each WA copy? I'm sure they could have secured an opt-out for the $15k minimum though..)


@kado: The different versions allow different bitrates. I believe MPEG I offers the highest rates, and so is most likely the one you'll want to use. If you look in the help dialog on the page it says which is which, and what bitrates they operate within.

The best settings I find are Alt Preset Standard, because it provides nearly transparent sound quality with (relatively) good file sizes. However, if you think that 224kb/s (my average with that) is too high for your space constraints, go with 192kb/s CBR. Although that won't sound so good (you will probably only notice with a good audio setup though).

If you do use CBR then change the quality to 'Q=0' (high). For no extra space (but a little extra encoding time) it will increase the quality of the file. Also enable Joint Stereo which frees up some stereo bits for use in encoding audio, resulting in a higher quality sounding file (with no adverse affect on stereo imaging).

Thanks for the MPEG stuff.
About the Winamp 5 Pro price... Remember that you are also paying for cd ripping and burning and for support for future Winamp development!:winamp:

Those prices were for ripping... the encoder is the price that the 'ripping' license would be. As for the decoding price, well surely Winamps always had to pay that? Or have they illegally been avoiding that, but decided that its too risky to avoid paying for the encoder?

As for burning, that shouldn't incur any mp3 fees.

The only valid reason is to support WA development, but with Brennan and Justin (and Aus) gone I don't think its particuarly worth it (no offence to the rest of the team).

Oh, and as a reply to the original poster, CDex is better. It's a lot more configurable; partically the paranoia options are useful. And it's a devoted program, which always strikes me as better. (I'd much prefer for increased video development rather than burning/ripping - although I can accept that the mass market may prefer burning/ripping more).

The Winamp Pro fee also includes the price for the Sonic Burning/Ripping Engine, not just the MP3 Encoder.

afaik, Nullsoft has to pay $5 per copy for the encoder.

btw, I'm sure Christophe and Francis won't be offended by your statement ;)
...and J is never too far away if/when needed.


ps. EAC is best :p :D ;)

@DJEgg: I never thought I'd say this about a program, but EAC's learning curve is just too high for me. I imagine that it can do some things that CDex can't, but man, once I enable advanced mode (in order to set some of the settings that I know how to set on CDex), I'm totally lost.

That might just be me, though.

I don't see what the big deal with EAC is. It's biggest advantage was ripping scratched/damaged CDs. But awhile ago CDex added CD Paranoia and it has some good damaged CD reading capabilities right now. And the chances are low that the average person will be ripping pretty chewed up CDs. Plus CDex comes with the Vorbis and LAME DLLs included so no extra work of extra downloads and dealing with command line tools.

Though EAC apparently has Audio CD burning, though I never tried it.

CDex should be good enough for most everyone. :D

Well, I think I'll purchase winamp pro, but first Nullsoft has gotta help me out here. I can't purchase, even if I select US as my region, which I was told to.

I'm going crazy, but I guess that I'll just have to learn waiting :)

I've found that Winamp rips CDs much faster and more efficiently than CDex does. CDex tends to slow my computer right down when it's encoding, and I don't trust it to rip straight to MP3.
Winamp on the other hand, always rips straight to the encoded end product without slowing my computer down significantly, although it has produced errors on the odd occasion when I'm doing a lot of things at once.

It'd be nice if Winamp had some sort of error checking for such events.

Plus, Winamp can rip to AAC :D

EACs learning curve isn't too bad.

Then again, I did a Stage 1 Gentoo install once.

I'd say EAC for the quality possible, CDex for good features and usability, and WA5 for complete ease of use.