Thanks for the reply. I'll look forward to what you decide to do about return codes. The only thing that I wanted was is for D&D to display a message in the Output Window when an error is found (good). That way I can go back through the output to find the problem. In addition to the error message, you might consider adding an option to stop processing (and beep maybe) when an error is found (better). That way I can deal with the problem when it occurs.
I have tried and do use RazorLame fairly regularly. It's a little out of date (hasn't been updated for several years) but as long as you know how to get around the outdated stuff, it works great. Also, it does support drag & drop.
Let me apologize in advance for the verbose nature this section. Sorry 'bout that.
In response to your question, I apologize for the way I worded the situation. I could have been clearer. I'll give it another try...
The issue doesn't really relate to basic encoding -- converting a WAV file to an MP3, it relates to converting or re-encoding an MP3. Say you have an MP3 encoded at 320 kbps and you want to load it to your portable MP3 player. Relatively speaking, an MP3 encoded at 320 kbps is huge! To save space, the best thing to do is convert the MP3 to a more reasonable bit rate.
Because you are converting or re-encoding an MP3, the target file name is the same as the source. If you are lucky, LAME or RazorLame will catch it and stop you from overwriting the original file. I say lucky because under certain conditions (wacky target folder definition), LAME does not realize that the source is the same as the target and will overwrite the source file while it is processing it. Needless to say, the source file is destroyed.
Of course there are work-arounds. The most obvious work-around is to define a different target folder. My issue with that is that I've got an infinite number of source folders. What came from where? What if I want to put the converted file back in the original folder? Which one was it? Another work-around is to convert to an MP3 with a static name, delete the original, and rename the converted MP3 to the original. My issue is that I want to keep both the original and the converted file.
My solution is to add a static tag to the 1st node (everything before the first . (dot)) of the file. For example, an MP3 with the file name of "Heart - Magic Man.mp3" would be converted to file with the name "Heart - Magic Man (128).mp3"
With D&D, I can add a static string to the fully qualified file name (not worth much in this case) or to the end (changes .mp3 to something else) but I can't prefix or append anything to the just the file name. This issue is not just with LAME or other MP3 encoders, it's any program that converts a file type to the same file type and you want to do it in the same folder as the source.
If you think it makes sense, you might want to consider adding a %3, %4, and %5 options to represent the unqualified file name (full file name without the qualified path), the file name only, and the extension only. I'm sure that others will find these options valuable.
Thank you for your consideration. Once again, I apologize for the verbose nature of this post.
