I've tried all the alternatives and there is nothing that makes editing MP3s easier than this software, in my view it is unique for quick editing. If I have a problem with it it is that it is so good I wish I could better integrate it into other software to handle the trancoding, editing and tagging sequence of actions.
My addiction is the collecting of Radio Plays, and with the use of the equally excellent Radio Recorder, MP3DirectCut is a vital tool to top and tail plays and concaternate series/serials. I've found using Mp3tag as the shell for this post processing to be the best methodology, with Mp3DirectCut as a named "tool", but it does require mastering the necessary keystroke commands to make it an efficient process. How I wish MP3DirectCut could be totally integrated with programs such as Xrecode2 and Mp3tag. It would be a truely awsome program.
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This is a very useful free MP3 editor, only drawback is the cumbersome cue sheet loading, as there's no shortcut for this operation, and the application doesn't remember the last folder used. I solved this issue by assigning the loading of a cue sheet (menu selection) to a hotkey with AutoHotkey.

The problem with this application is that cutting MP3's can be a bit hard if you want to avoid annoying clicks in the resulting MP3's, you have to choose the best place to cut an MP3. It is fine for cutting podcasts. For a better alternative that does a better job at cutting use MP3 Stream Editor (not free).