PowerEnc

PowerEnc is a software app that enables you to rip CDs and to convert audio tracks to other formats, such as WAV, MP3, OGG and FLAC. Its features can be seamlessly figured out.

This is a portable tool, so installing PowerEnc is not necessary. It means that you can save the utility to a USB flash drive or any other storage device, and directly run its executable file on any computer.

The Windows Registry does not receive new updates and no leftover files can be found on the hard drive after program removal.

The tool is based on a user-friendly UI with an intuitive layout; you can toggle between disc mode (to rip data from audio CDs) and file mode (to convert tracks from the hard drive).

In the file queue you can find out the name, duration, format and status for each item. If you don't want to tinker with the default settings, simply start the conversion procedure after establishing an output format and profile.

Otherwise, you can configure audio options regarding the channel mode, bit rate (variable or constant), optimization mode, frequency, flags and presets. Unfortunately, you cannot create output profiles or restore settings to default.

You can include the CRC checksum, specify the encoder priority level, and edit metadata. From the 'Settings' screen, you can modify the interface language and main directory. But you can also manage a list of decoder plugins, add an external tagger, insert cover art, and configure proxy settings, among others.

The audio conversion program needs a low amount of system resources, has a good response time, finishes a task briefly and preserves a good sound quality for the output audio tracks. We have not come across any problems during our evaluation; PowerEnc did not freeze, crash or pop up error dialogs.