fast mp3 encoder to re-encode files before transfering to portable player
 

I'm looking for a program to re-encode my MP3s to a lower bitrate before transferring them to my portable MP3 player. I own a Creative MuVo 512MB.

I tried with LAME with options -f -b96 and it takes roughly 15 seconds to re-encode a 3 min song on my computer. Maybe it's fast, but 15 sec time 200 songs would be 50 minutes. So I was wondering if there was any other encoder able to do that faster. After all I am not looking for an encoder, but an application that could reduce the bitrate.

Any suggestion?

Concerning the UI, I am also looking for suggestion on how to copy my files from my computer to my MuVo by passing them through the re-encoder. Command line wise is easy, but it's for my wife and she doesn't like the cmd line solution. So I was thinking that maybe I could create a special copy command in KDE for music files. Otherwise I would write a 2 pane file transfer UI (such as a FTP application) but that's more work.

Stop being so impatient. Read a magazine or go outside for a bit.