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Need To Repair MP3 Files?

By Codrut Nistor

Posted in Software

A few days ago I went to my favorite store to get some blank DVDs. So far so good - nothing special you will say. Well those guys who own the store are as crazy about good music as I am and so they also feel the need to keep their old vinyls and audio tapes in digital format. While I usually download good quality CD rips of the albums I already own (is this piracy or not what do you think?) I couldn't find most of my vinyls available. Sure it's not that hard to "grab" vinyls especially since the guys with this store I mentioned recently got a device to rip vinyls to MP3 but what about checking to see if the resulted files are all right?

Repair MP3 Files With MP3 Diags I

This time we'll talk about a program for everyone since MP3 Diags is available for virtually any operating system you can think of and sources are freely available. Even more the official page I just mentioned above only says Linux Windows and "others" but I am sure this program could also work on Mac OS X and other *nix-based systems. Anyway I think it's enough to know that MP3 Diags works on most Windows- and Linux-powered systems so let's stop talking and unleash its power!

Since I played with MP3 Diags in Windows XP I will talk about my experience with it on this platform of course but I am sure things aren't that different for Linux users. When it comes to installing for example I had to choose between a setup file and downloading two separate archives one with the EXE file and the other with the needed DLL files. I chose the second solution because I always like to create shortcuts myself instead of allowing some setup program to mess with my registry...

Repair MP3 Files With MP3 Diags II

After firing up MP3 Diags for the first time you need to create a new session and I found the interface to be a bit confusing during the first minutes of use but I finally managed to overcome this small problem. Unfortunately while using the program I bumped into a few errors and I am not talking about MP3 file-related ones...

Once you manage to scan your folder(s) with MP3 files you will be taken to a different window where you can see details of each available file and perform a pretty wide range of operations on them like tag editing (the program is capable of scanning online servers to find the proper tags for your files) normalization repair/rebuild of VBR data and many more.

Repair MP3 Files With MP3 Diags III

The settings available for you to play with are more than enough especially if we consider the fact that this program is a free one so the only thing that could keep you away from it may be its lack of reliability. Don't get me wrong - MP3 Diags is a program worth trying but it crashed a few times too many on my system so I would really like to hear about your experience with it. After all it could be something wrong on my side that's not something I would take out of the equation.

Well... I guess this is it so let me conclude by asking those two big questions once again:

1. Do you think that if I own a genuine CD/audio tape and I download a RIP of the album I am going into the warez area or not?

2. How was your experience with MP3 Diags? Any crashes encountered?

Thanks in advance! I wish I could award some prize to those who will answer the questions above but the gift box is empty now... just stay close to us and I promise you'll be awarded for it one day! ;)