Aug 9, 2007
Lazyweb: folder-monitoring automated transcode in Windows?
Time for another lazyweb! Anyone know of a good solution to monitor a folder (or folders) in a Windows box and automatically transcode any incoming audio files to, say, MP3? (Would prefer to use LAME with a particular set of parameters; foobar has long me totally hooked on its LAME batch encodes.) I know this is a totally cron-able task here, but I’m looking for something with a little better integration for my Vista media server. Hit me up in comments!
Co-founder of 
Ryan-
I use MoveIt2 (http://filemover.be)to watch a folder on my BeyondTV box for anything that has been transcoded for my PMP… when a file is saved there that meets my criteria, it moves the file across the network to my Zen W sync folder. I think that it’d work for you as well, because it has the capability to watch a particular folder and run a command (like LAME), with parameters before or after it moves the files (in your case, you’d set it to watch your incoming audio file folder, run LAME on the files, and then move them to an “encoding complete” folder).
It works perfectly, and I don’t even think about my files anymore, they just end up where they’re supposed to be.
I’m not totally sure it runs on Vista (even though I have a free, MS sanctioned copy on my desk, I haven’t so much as put the DVD in the drive, and won’t til SP2, probably.), but it is definitely worth a look. Email me if you have any questions about my setup!