I'm trying to find the best/ easiest to use audio player to use in Windows 7. I have itunes but don't want to use it. I want to rip my cd's into AAC 256 kbps VBR to listen to on my iphone 4s.
I can figure out how to get Foobar2000 to transfer onto my phone, and although I like Media Monkey and the transfer to iphone works good, the AAC encoder is not included in the free version (except as a 30 day trial).
I'm new to all of this and still trying to figure it out, so thanks for any advice!
If you have foobar and iTunes (v10.5 or newer) still installed you could just rip with foobar straight to TVBR m4a/aac. When you installed foobar, did you install the 'Optional' components? If not, re-install, choose Custom install, look in the Optional features and choose Convertor, etc...I forgot what they're actually labeled.
Next, download the qaac zip from here https://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/cabinet, current version is 2.44. FYI, qaac's home page https://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/home
Unzip, and from the 'x86' folder copy qaac.exe, msvcp120.dll, and msvcr120.dll into the 'C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000' folder.
Or simply install the foobar Free Encoder Pack, http://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack
Rip w/ foobar:
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Foobar2000:Ripping_CDs_with_Foobar2000
BTW, after clicking 'Rip' I would click 'Verify with AccurateRip'
To rip to m4a/aac click the 'Proceed to Convertor Setup dialog' button-->click 'Output Format'-->'Add New' or 'Edit' an existing entry
Choose 'Custom' for Encoder
Encoder File: point to C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000\qaac.exe
Extension: m4a
Parameters: -V 109 -o %d - --no-optimize
Bit depth-->Format: Lossy
OR, if you've installed the Free Encoder Pack
Choose AAC (Apple)
Variable Bit Rate
move the Quality slider to pick your estimated bitrate (VBR Q 109 for ~256kbps)
Set 'Destination' as you like
Set 'Processing' to none
click 'Convert'