Multiple file types is usually not a problem on the computer itself as software music players are capable of playing all of the popular music files. Problems usually arise when music needs to be transferred on media devices such as mp3 players.

Music converters are used to convert music from one format into a different format.

A first tech preview of the popular music converter LameXP 4.0 has been released a few days ago. LameXP is basically a frontend for the mp3 encoder Lame with support for additional decoders.

The tech preview has been released as a time limited demo which means that it will only work for 14 days. The developer plans to release a new version in that timeframe that users can update to.

Not all planned features are integrated in the tech preview as well. It is possible to load audio files into the interface with the built-in file browser or drag and drop. LameXP 4.0 supports a wide variety of file types from mp3 and wave over flac and ogg/vorbis to wma, mp4 and aac.

The endocder, quality settings, meta data and output directory are all defined in the program options. Supported are currently conversions to mp3, ogg vorbis, nero AAC (if installed), FLAC and Wave.

Meta Data can be added manually which will supersede meta data that is already existing in the files. A click on the Encode Now button starts the encoding. Encoded files are saved in the selected output directory. LameXP creates a playlist file automatically with an option to disable the creation in the meta data preferences.

Users who are interested in the tech preview of LameXP 4.0 find the official release thread at the Doom9 forum.

The program supports a wide variety of music formats and can also rip audio CDs (with the option to pull information from Freebd) easily. Some of the more popular formats that are supported by winLame include mp3, ogg, acc, wma and flac. The process is divided into four windows starting with the selection of the music on the local computer system. A file browser or drag and drop can be used to add audio files from the computer system. The option to include CD tracks is also available in this first screen.

The second screen contains the output settings and parameters including the selection of the output module, the location where the files will be stored in and if a playlist should be created automatically.

The third step lists several presets that can be used to encode the music ranging from high quality hifi to best quality archiving or portable usage. Custom settings can be configured as well in this screen.

The final step will display encoding information and the progress. The wide variety of audio formats coupled with encoding presets make winLame a viable alternative for anyone looking for a solid audio encoder for the Windows operating system.

Drag and Drop Robot can be described as a program that interacts with command line tools to add batch processing and drag and drop functionality to them. This might sound complex at first but in reality it is not. Several configuration files are already installed when you download the program, you can use them to zip and unrar data, hide and unhide data in pictures and encrypt or decrypt data.

If you would for instance like to unrar ten rar independent rar files you would simply choose the unrar configuration and drag and drop the ten rar files into the queue of Drag and Drop Robot.

The most interesting aspect of this software is probably that it is possible to add configuration files. This is excellent for users who work with audio or video encoders for instance. If you want to encode 1000 mp3 files you could simply use lame, add the command line options that you want to use and drag and drop the folder(s) that contain the mp3 files into the window.

Mouser created a demonstration video on the site which is helpful to understand the concept behind Drag+Drop Robot