convert mp3 to wav

place the following script in ~/bin and call it mp3towav.

guest@kusumanchi:~/bin$ cat mp3towav
#! /bin/sh

# bash script to convert .mp3 files to .wav files
# works even if the files have spaces in their names.
#
# Author : Kamaraju Kusumanchi
# Email  : kamaraju at gmail dot com
#
# Usage : cd into the directory containing .mp3 files and then execute
# this.
#
# Ref :- Linux Multimedia Hacks, Tips & Tools for Taming Images, Audio and
# Video by Kyle Rankin, pg-100
#

for i in *.mp3; do
lame --decode "$i" "`basename "$i" .mp3`".wav
done

Make the script executable

guest@kusumanchi:~/bin$ chmod +x mp3towav
guest@kusumanchi:~/bin$ ls -al mp3towav
-rwxr-xr-x 1 guest guest 450 2007-03-06 20:19 mp3towav

Cd into the directory containing .mp3 files

guest@kusumanchi:~/bin$ cd /entertainment/telugu_songs/godavari/
guest@kusumanchi:/entertainment/telugu_songs/godavari$ ls -1 *mp3
01 - Ramachakkani Sitaki.mp3
02 - Uppongele Godavari.mp3
03 - Manasavacha.mp3
04 - Manasaa Gelupu.mp3
05 - Tippulu Tappulu.mp3
06 - Andamgaalena.mp3

Run the script

guest@kusumanchi:/entertainment/telugu_songs/godavari$ ~/bin/mp3towav

There will be messages such as

ID3v2 found. Be aware that the ID3 tag is currently lost when transcoding.
input:  01 - Ramachakkani Sitaki.mp3
       (44.1 kHz, 2 channels, MPEG-1 Layer III)
output: 01 - Ramachakkani Sitaki.wav  (16 bit, Microsoft WAVE)
skipping initial 1105 samples (encoder+decoder delay)
Frame#  8878/8859   128 kbps  L  R

The corresponding .wav files will be created once the script completes. The .mp3 files are unmodified.

guest@kusumanchi:/entertainment/telugu_songs/godavari$ ls -1 *wav
01 - Ramachakkani Sitaki.wav
02 - Uppongele Godavari.wav
03 - Manasavacha.wav
04 - Manasaa Gelupu.wav
05 - Tippulu Tappulu.wav
06 - Andamgaalena.wav

Programs like k3b can now be used to burn these wave files onto a CD/DVD.