Tim: >> mplayer has a "-msgcharset" parameter which sounds like it might be >> what you want (see the mplayer man file). Though the default is Strong: > $ mplayer -msgcharset ru_RU.CP1251 * > iconv: conversion from UTF-8 to ru_RU.CP1251 unsupported I'd try without the ru_RU. prefix, it didn't error without it, here (though I had no suitable MP3 files to see the results). ru_RU is a language thing, CP1251 is the charset. > Although I need reverse conversion... Going from your prior description, and how the mplayer man file, it doesn't sound like it, though the above error message does sound like the error message is reversed. -- (This box runs FC5, my others run FC4 & FC6, in case that's important to the thread.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.