Fre:ac for Windows

User Reviews

• Nice software

  k_liam11/11/2015

  Pros

  Free Clean Easy to use Very good results

  Cons

  Very simplistic No *.ape support

  Summary

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• Outstanding for big batch conversion of MPEG-4 to MP3

  RogueWave94/28/2015

  Pros

  I had ~10,000 hard files in MPEG-4 format (iTunes' handiwork ...bleah) that I needed to convert to MP3, so that I could listen to them in Xbox Music via OneDrive cloud storage. User reviews had warned me away from other converters that CNET had endorsed, because they come with malware and other unwelcome hitchhikers. So I went for this one instead. It's great! There seems to have been no malware, etc. And it converted 1000's of files at a time to MP3 without a glitch. (Of course, this takes a while.) I was able to tell it to put these new MP3's in their original folders (i.e., artist by artist, album by album), and I was able to tell it to delete the original MPEG-4's from those same folders ...but be aware that you have to select this option manually for each batch you run. To get decent quality bitrates and files sizes comparable to the MPEG-4 originals, I set the encoder to "Fast, Extreme." I was so pleased with the results that I donated $5 on Fre:ac's website.

  Cons

  The only negative is that the buttons and options aren't always given intuitively comprehensible names ...at least not for a non-techie like me. Free advice: Before jumping into big batch conversions, start small and fool around with the options till you're sure you know it's going to do what you want. And then make sure those options are set correctly for each batch you run.

  Summary

  A++++. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the developer.

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• Easy, Good encoding options

  nzcdog1/24/2015

  Pros

  I needed something to convert m4a's to mp3... does a great job, plenty of encoding options or simply use presets... thumbs up! Even better No adware, bloatware or hijacks or spam screens.

  Cons

  None I have discovered

  Summary

  I have only used it to covert m4a's to mp3s. Works great, highly recommended.

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• Quick and intuitive

  tgon5/5/2014

  Pros

  Minimalist appearance, yet fully capable of many tasks.

  Cons

  No problems yet. I chose this program mainly for flac to mp3 conversions.

  Summary

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• it's a pretty good program

  sonnyboy664/4/2014

  Pros

  It coverts pretty quickly for the ones I tried to convert, so give it a try

  Cons

  I have not used it enough to find any cons.

  Summary

  I think that I will enjoy it the more I use it.

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• Not for me

  hateucnet12/18/2013

  Pros

  recognized CD Drive

  Cons

  Can't easily edit file names. CDDB is dodgy at best.

  Summary

  uninstalled. Prefer to use windows media player.

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• Great Program That Works Great And Very Fast

  joeyrocklean10/10/2013

  Pros

  Ripped CDs easily

  Cons

  nothing right now

  Summary

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• Not everything obvious but works well and is simple

  cedricgannet8/11/2013

  Pros

  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  Cons

  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  Summary

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• Almost Ready For Prime-Time

  Smeaga317/13/2013

  Pros

  Easy and fast install. Many Codecs to choose from. Makes great quality sounding rips/conversions. Very intuitive layout and options. One of the better ones I've tried but......

  Cons

  When I converted some properly tagged and labeled FLACs to MP3s it didn't carry over completely. My album art was missing. The Album Artist Was Left Blank. It Doesn't Tell you what disc number it is and doesnt tell you the total tracks. All of this information was included in the source files and other converters I've tried work better in this regard.

  Summary

  This really does create some very high quality rips/conversions but the tagging is just to incomplete for me. I have worked literally hundreds of hours tagging and labeling my rips. I even make my own thumbs for album art purposes and embed them in the rips. I don't want to have to recreate the wheel. It is very important to me to have all possible data in the tags. This just doesn't do it. Let's just say Fre:AC is almost ready for prime-time! For now I'll just stick with Easy CD-DA Extractor even if it cost a little.

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• Free and Competent Converter AND RIPPER

  rodmoyer5/6/2013

  Pros

  This is a competent and user friendly audio file converter supporting a great many formats. Some of the popular & free media converters out there do well with video and audio both. I use one such, but it does not rip audio from CDs. This software does that, well, with extensive configurability.

  Cons

  Have not discovered any issues yet.

  Summary

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