I do audio work professionally, and am often needing to do conversions (AIFF or WAV to MP3, for instance) in order to send files out for client review. As part of that process, or sometimes independent of it, I need to edit ID3 tags of MP3's that I have output from my audio editing software. I have used iTunes for both of these purposes, but am finding it a bit cumbersome when I also use iTunes for iOS device syncing, my own personal music, having to copy over and then copy back files after they have been converted or edited, and having to constantly be looking for multiple versions of tracks or CDs in iTunes that have gotten added to the library over the course of a project. I just want a program that can do those edits/conversions on my files in the same location that they already exist. I don't want to have to move them around and end up with songs all over the place.

So, my wish list:
-Program which can do conversions between multiple formats (batch conversion would be helpful) without needing to first be copied/moved/added to a music library
-Program which can edit ID3 tags easily (batch edits helpful)

I know there are good programs out there to do this, but wondering if anyone has any personal recommendations. Thanks!

Audacity has always been my go-to for this type of stuff.

I'm not sure if it does all the items on your wishlist, but it's kind of like GraphicConverter or GIMP but for Audio files.

Record live audio
Record computer playback on any Windows Vista or later machine
Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs
Edit WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP2, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis sound files
AC3, M4A/M4R (AAC), WMA and other formats supported using optional libraries
Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together
Numerous effects including change the speed or pitch of a recording
And more! See the complete list of features: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2015 12:19PM by ztirffritz.

No experience with it, but I've heard good things about using Auphonic.com. Not standalone of course.

[sbooth.org]

I'm a DJ and I use iTunes primarily BUT one useful tool I go to outside of iTunes to do "batch renames" like I want is Musorg

MusOrg

I basically use it to be consistent in File Name Structure [Artist - Title] but it also does ID3 too to a certain degree.

I frequent a DJ forums and I think there is a Mac version of Tag and Rename that most Windows users who come over to Mac rave about but it's not freeware, I never tried it because I'm too deep into iTunes.

Google search?

It would be good to know such an app.
In the mean time, keep using iTunes, make use of the capability to switch libraries on the fly (hit alt before clicking the app icon.
I'm not sure if preferences change with the library, but set prefs for the work library, to not organize media, so it won't move the originals.
You can always go to a newly created file by selecting it in iTunes and hitting cud-R...
Or leave it on, so it will organize your down conversions, not your masters.

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thanks, all. I ended up finding this one:
[bilalh.github.io]

Looks like it will handle tagging pretty easily in my workflow. I found a couple others, and tried the ones linked in this thread, but the one I linked to above seems to handle my needs most smoothly.

I should add that I'm finding Max (thanks Bixby!) useful as well. Allows me to add ID3 tags, convert to mp3 with output of mp3 to the source folder of the uncompressed files.