Real Audio to wma failing too often

[sandersw]

I convert Real Audio to .wma .

Once in a while one fails, it produces a very small .wma file only. Usually I just download the Real Audio file again & it works.

But now this is happening so often that I am having trouble making any .wma files at all.

Whenever in the past I have tried playing the Real Audio files in Windows Media Player they have played quite OK from beginning to end, with just occasional skips of a few seconds.

Perhaps it is some degradation of what I get from the Real Audio server that is bringing this about. Nowadays I use Orbit Downloader to get them, in the distant past NetTransport.

At the moment I am using Real Alternative 1.70 & keep my Windows XP SP2 up to date using Windows Update. DMC r12, DirectShow & WMA 10 codec, of course.

How to I go about fixing or debugging this?

[LtData]

Just to make sure, the files that produce small files will play in Windows Media Player with no problems, right?

[sandersw]

Just to make sure, the files that produce small files will play in Windows Media Player with no problems, right?

Thanks, you ar right, when I checked I found that they were no longer playing in Windows Media Player.

I moved forwards to Real Alternative 1.75, which lists in its changes:

Downgraded RealMedia components to version 6.0.12.1662, because the newest version (6.0.14.748) of the components does not work properly

So I think that may explain it.

Howere, I am now back as I was, with some downloads converting successfully & others not.

Now, those that do not convert will Play in Windows Media Player (I have tried one from beginning to end today). But I have to download the failed ones repeatedly until I get one that will convert.

I would still like to debug this problem, to save the repeated downloads. It may be that if I could get prefect downloads, without any skips or jumps then I would npt have this problem - but I'm not able to get these, probably the protocol & servers don't suit this.

I am keeping samples that fail & their successful counterparts.

Any help would be appreciated

[LtData]

Is there a size difference between working and non-working?

[sandersw]

Is there a size difference between working and non-working?

Yes, as I recall sometimes the file that will convert is a little smaller, sometimes a little larger, I think.

For example, failed size: 18,099,014 bytes, good size: 18,088,430 bytes. For another, failed size: 18,084,650 bytes, good size: 18,098,258.

I don't have the files to prove it, but I suspect I could get more that one size a download to succeed too, but I don't usually download anymore once I have one that works.

The size of the converted .wma file for a failure is always about the same: 335K bytes.

TIA