Real Audio to mp3?

[Lord Brett]

I've finally found an off-air recording of Derek New and Ron Goodwin's mighty Yorkshire Television March. It's in Real Player format, so at least I can play it on my computer, but is there any way of converting it to mp3?

[Foster twelvetrees]

I converted my copy of this via I-Tunes. You could try that. Lovely tune.

[Wolfgang]

I use application called "Total Recorder". I got it 5 years ago to record some live streaming (it removes any sound gaps so that your recording is unbroken) and it only cost about £5. Nothing fancy - rather than convert raw files it records your sound card output as .wav file, which you can then convert to mp3 if you wish. This means that your recordings are only as good as your audio hardware and of course limited to what you can actually play. It does its job though and is perfectly good enough for converting radio to mp3.

You can get trial version from download.com:

Total Recorder Standard Edition - Reviews and free Total Recorder Standard Edition downloads at Download.com

[Lord Brett]

Originally Posted by Foster twelvetrees I converted my copy of this via I-Tunes. You could try that. Lovely tune.

Thanks Forster and Wolfgang.

I use itunes quite a lot for downpoading podcasts. Are there some instructions available to show me what to do?

[aaron]

If you're going the route Wolfgang suggests, you can do the same thing for free by downloading Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder In the drop down 'source' menu just select 'wave' and press record....

[Rob Compton]

Easier still, try Freecorder Free Sound Recorder: Freecorder Toolbar which records the sound through your sound card and automatically converts it to MP3 format. While I am normally very wary of software that alters your toolbar, this is genuinely very useful, for Listen Again and any other such service. One click to record, with a small window to show you its recording, one click to stop and then asks you for a filename and location to save it to. Excellent, and as its name suggests, free!

The link above explains all and shows you how it works with screenshots. No Mac version yet, sadly, but works well in Win XP. Sweep (with the excellent Windows Defender) for adware and spyware after you've loaded it, just in case.

rgds
Rob

[JohnB_Toronto]

These are nice little programmes. They're programmes that capture any sound coming through your sound card, regardless of the source. Some software records as wavs, some give you the option of MP3. If it needs any sort of cleaning up I suggest you capture it in wav format and then use your own preferred codec or MP3 maker to do the conversion to MP3. It's also easier to trim, fade or otherwise edit the wav in an audio editor first, rather than go through a double conversion from MP3 to wav and then back again (potentially losing quality at each step). Careful as you record - remember you're capturing every sound that's coming out of the sound card - including keyboard noises and things like e-mail alerts. Best to shut everything else down and then leave it alone to run through without working on other things at the same time.

[Lord Brett]

Thanks everybody for all the advice. I'm much more confident in carrying on now. I'm going to contact Chandos to suggest they rerecord it as part of their British Light Music series, as they have with other ITV startup themes.

[lordtednfs]

Wow, thanks guys, been looking for something like this for ages. Longing to try it out on listen again programs.

This site gets better everyday.

_________________
Hooked off the line

[JohnB_Toronto]

Originally Posted by lordtednfs Wow, thanks guys, been looking for something like this for ages. Longing to try it out on listen again programs. This site gets better everyday. _________________ Hooked off the line

They're excellent for capturing Internet Radio shows because it makes no difference which format they've been broadcast in .. Real Audio, Windows etc. No need to worry about trying to download the sound file for conversion either - just snag it as comes out of your sound card. As well as turning off your other noisy software, turn off your PC microphone too or it'll also pick up incoming room noises.

[Edward G]

Rob,
I read your post with great interest. BBC Radio 2 have a selection of great music documentaries (still available in the "listen again" facility) which I have been trying to capture externally using an MP3 in-line recorder linked to the PC's headphones socket.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/documentaries

We don't have broadband where I live and the broadband connection I have used at work is wobbly. It doesn't hold the signal and quality varies badly. Is there any source where I can download these as MP3 or WAV files? I would love to colect these before they are gone...

Your urgent assistance is greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Edward G.

Originally Posted by Rob Compton Easier still, try Freecorder Free Sound Recorder: Freecorder Toolbar which records the sound through your sound card and automatically converts it to MP3 format. While I am normally very wary of software that alters your toolbar, this is genuinely very useful, for Listen Again and any other such service. One click to record, with a small window to show you its recording, one click to stop and then asks you for a filename and location to save it to. Excellent, and as its name suggests, free! The link above explains all and shows you how it works with screenshots. No Mac version yet, sadly, but works well in Win XP. Sweep (with the excellent Windows Defender) for adware and spyware after you've loaded it, just in case. rgds Rob

[Rob Compton]

Hi Edward G -

I don't know of a solution to this - in some ways, that's the one drawback to Freecorder, which is otherwise brilliant. It would be great to use it to download the file behind Listen Again as an MP3 or whatever, but it can't do that, you need to record it in real time. But thats really just me being lazy, especially as the programmes are there for nearly a week before they disappear.

Does anyone else know of an answer to Edward's question? That is assuming I've understood...

What about Orbit? Orbit Rich Media Downloader:download social video,music, streaming media, rtmp and more...Pandora,YouTube,Yahoo,Myspace,Dailymotion,R apidShare... I have tried to use it on Listen Again but unsuccessfully - then again (as is patently obvious) I am rather at the limits of my techy knowledge!

Anyone?

rgds
Rob

[Edward G]

Cheers Rob,
Thanks for your rapid reply and advice on this.
I think the only solution is to find a better broadband connection.
At least when I find a nearby and stable broadband source freecorder will simplify the (internal) recording of the streaming audio.
If anyone else knows a sneaky way around this or an alternative source for these docs please post it as a reply here!
Thanks all,
Edward G.

[lordtednfs]

Originally Posted by Edward G If anyone else knows a sneaky way around this or an alternative source for these docs please post it as a reply here! Thanks all, Edward G.

Hi Edward, long time no hear. Have you tried using nero as it will encode the audio for you to mp3 and then burn it to your disc? All you need to do is to select the all files menu at the bottom of nero once you have pasted your file and it should do the rest for you.

Failing that try burning the file to a cdrw/dvdrw in it's original format using windows media player 11. When you have done that you should be able to rip it to the mp3 format using windows media player. I tried it tonight before posting this for you and I am glad to say it works. Let me know how you get on and if you need help on how to do just send me a pm.

Best wishes

_____________________
Hooked off the line

[Rob Compton]

Hi Lord Ted

If you have done this from the BBC's "listen again", then I for one would be really grateful if you could explain how - in words of one syllable if poss!

Many thanks
Rob