Comments on: Best music editing program for Windows?

Question: Best music editing program for Windows?

doppleradar — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:33:14 -0800

What's the best, free music editing software for Windows?

I need a basic (but good) FREE music editing program that will let me upload .mp3's from itunes, cut out the first/last few seconds of a song, string a bunch of edited songs together, and then export back to itunes or burn onto a cd.

Basically what i'm trying to do is make mix cd's with no dead air btwn tracks. I don't care about adding effects, making my own original music, etc.

I'd be doing this on a ThinkPad T61 w/ Vista.

By: phredgreen

phredgreen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:35:51 -0800

Audacity

By: worker_bee

worker_bee — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:39:10 -0800

Yes. Audacity, no contest.

By: sjuhawk31

sjuhawk31 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:39:35 -0800

I can't remember if it was free, but before Adobe took it over and made it Audition, CoolEdit 2000 was freakin' incredible. You can download an old version from the link.

By: ijoyner

ijoyner — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:41:13 -0800

Note that some burning apps (like Nero) automatically put in a 2 second gap between tracks.
Have you tried burning the CD without those gaps? That would be an easier fix than trimming the tracks (especially if they really end when the song ends)

By: unixrat

unixrat — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:05:23 -0800

Can you buy MP3s from iTunes? I'm pretty sure that you can only get AACs (DRM and non-DRM).

By: rjt

rjt — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:10:48 -0800

The magic google term is "gapless". See, for example, this thread on how to do it with Nero.

and unixrat, you can certainly manage mp3s with iTunes, even if you can't buy them from the iTunes Store

By: unixrat

unixrat — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:13:32 -0800

Ah, manage right. I knew that. Never mind my previous message.

By: owtytrof

owtytrof — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:28:19 -0800

2nding ijoyner - why go to all the trouble of editing when you can just burn gapless? I may be wrong, having not done it in a while, but I think iTunes will let you choose the space between tracks in the options somewhere.

By: alloneword

alloneword — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:40:30 -0800

Cooledit 2000 wasn't free -- I know because I paid for it and hoard the licence key, which has to be reinstalled every time I upgrade windows. I'm not sure that it did anything that Audacity now doesn't, though.