MP3 trimming software needed

I'm guessing there are a lot of people on this forum who are familiar with manipulating MP3s, so I'm hoping one of you can help me. I need to find a way to cut some music down to 1:40 for a skating routine, but I don't have any software to do it at the moment. Right now my only method is to record from CD to cassette tape on my stereo, which I'd rather not do. At some point I may need to splice pieces of songs together, but for now I just need to cut off the beginning/end of songs. Can anyone recommend software that will do this in Windows XP? Preferably free? Thanks a bunch for any suggestions!

A really weak, but free, choice would be to use the free Windows Sound Recorder (Start Menu/Programs/Accessories). Put the output from your CD player into your sound card and record. I'm sure there are better free ways to do this through software, but it should work in a pinch.

Actually, iTunes allows you to change the start and end times of any track, so if all you're looking to do is cut it to a particular length by lopping off the beginning or the end, you should be able to do it that way.

Dianne 99
I'm guessing there are a lot of people on this forum who are familiar with manipulating MP3s, so I'm hoping one of you can help me. I need to find a way to cut some music down to 1:40 for a skating routine, but I don't have any software to do it at the moment. Right now my only method is to record from CD to cassette tape on my stereo, which I'd rather not do. At some point I may need to splice pieces of songs together, but for now I just need to cut off the beginning/end of songs. Can anyone recommend software that will do this in Windows XP? Preferably free? Thanks a bunch for any suggestions!

You could try some media player applications. For example, iTunes has this capability:

[macs.about.com]

I'd also be willing to bet that some stand-alone CD ripping software could do the same. I'm not exactly positive, but I think that my Nero CD-burning software came with an audio file editor.

Almost free and very easy to use is Total Recorder from High Criteria. You can use it to record anything that you can hear on your PC. You can record the item as a WAV or MP3 (also does lossless FLAC compression, OGG VOBIS and PCM).

You can even feed a tape into the PC and make an MP3 from the tape.

It allows you to vary the size of the files by increasing or decreasing the quality level. It is great for recording from the web - I used to use it to record hockey games back in the dark ages (when it was free to hear the streaming audio).

It is available for $17.95 from

[www.highcriteria.com]


I also believe that there is a free program that does most of what Total Recorder does, but haven't checked since I own the one I'm suggesting.

I believe that Audacity gets good reviews:

[www.snapfiles.com]

I've used Audacity and it should work well for your purposes.

Thanks everybody! I think I'll start with iTunes; this will motivate me to finally download it.