Converting .ram files.

[Trav]

Hi All.

Has anyone here managed to convert .ram files using dbpowerAMP only (and not dMC Auxiliary Input)?

Thanks.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Hi All.

Has anyone here managed to convert .ram files using dbpowerAMP only (and not dMC Auxiliary Input)?

Thanks.

That does not work since .ram is a meta file. You either work directly with the actual .rm or .ra file that is referred to in the .ram file (you must have it on your computer) or you use dMC Auxliary Input while playing the stream through your player.

[petriburg]

Re: Converting .ram files.

There is, apparently, another option. I have not tried this myself, neither do I use winamp (because of a strong preference for dB software). But with so much traffic on the forum for information regarding .ra, .ram and other variants of real audio etc., there is a site which you should look at for more information. Here's the url:

http://www.musiclivesonline.com/software/watara.html

Please read all of the content on that site - it may well solve all your problems, those of others, too, (and save some time for ChristinaS, as well !)

[ChristinaS]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Hey, lots of info here: http://www.musiclivesonline.com/software/watara.html :smile2:

But the author obviously forgot to add a couple more options there, i.e. using dMC Auxiliary Input and using anything similar to What U Hear.

The author also didn't say if the methods they give can record the Real Audio stream any faster than in real time. Basically that is what everybody wants, soemthing that will do it all quickly in less than the time it takes to listen to the audio file.

Of course, the author's preferred solution of using Streambox VCR is already gone from the location that was given there - to be expected given that Strembox has been sucessfully sued by Real Networks over this. I wouldn't know if it or a replacement may be hidden elsewhere on the Streambox site.

However I found Streambox VCR lurking at this other site mentioned there in relation to everything MP3 (and others): http://www.aeternus.tmfweb.nl/WTold/Floor2.html . There's a wealth of downloads available there. If they should work and do the job, well, that's peachy.

A more interesting program there (if it should work at all) is Streambox X-Fileget which will download RA streams to your harddisk.

There's even a program there to unlock (not the exact term used :D ) those blasted protected wma files. Haven't tried it since I don't own any of those for the time being (gee, maybe I should buy some just to see what all the heart-ache and hair-pulling is all about )

Thank you for this huge tip, Petriburg. It promises lots. Although, mind you, the site hasn't been updated apparently since 2001, so the encryption war may have already made some if not all of those solutions obsolete.

[Unregistered]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Thanks Petriburg/C.

I have a further question...

Is there a way to make the converted wav file smaller? A seven minute ram audio file turns into a 90MB one when converted!

Thanks.

[petriburg]

Re: Converting .ram files.

:D Well, this time you've asked for something a lot more simple to deal with.
Are we to assume that you've downloaded and installed dMC (dBpoweramp music converter)? If you have not, then do so, now. Once you have installed dMC, simply right click on the file you have in .wav format, and dMC dropdown menu will give you the option of 'convert to'. Select mp3Lame, and you'll be rewarded with a file in mp3 format which will be around 9megs in size once the conversion is complete. Good luck!

[ChristinaS]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Thanks Petriburg/C.

I have a further question...

Is there a way to make the converted wav file smaller? A seven minute ram audio file turns into a 90MB one when converted!

Thanks.

What did you convert to? I'd think that a 16-bit 44.1 KHz stereo file (cd quality) would be about 70MB (it is about 10MB/minute). Perhaps you used some higher settings.

Maybe you now want to convert to a compressed format like mp3 or wma.

[Trav]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Yes, I've got dMC and Auxiliary Input.

It's from .ram to wav.

I am hoping to get all my audio onto CDR so I can listen to it on any audio CD player. This means that whatever the format of the file I burn, it will be converted to cdda (is that what it is?) anyway.

Obviously, I would need to convert my ram, rm, ra into wav, mp3, etc first and then burn it as I haven't found a burner which burns Real files directly. I heard that for the best quality, the files should be converted to PCM wav before burning. Is this correct bearing in mind that whatever the initial format is, it will be converted to CDDA anyway?

Is there a difference in quality between burning an mp3 or a wav, or other?

If I want to keep my 90MB wav on my pc, how can I store it so that it can take up as less space as possible and how small can it go?

Thanks.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Yes, I've got dMC and Auxiliary Input.

It's from .ram to wav.

I am hoping to get all my audio onto CDR so I can listen to it on any audio CD player. This means that whatever the format of the file I burn, it will be converted to cdda (is that what it is?) anyway.

Obviously, I would need to convert my ram, rm, ra into wav, mp3, etc first and then burn it as I haven't found a burner which burns Real files directly. I heard that for the best quality, the files should be converted to PCM wav before burning. Is this correct bearing in mind that whatever the initial format is, it will be converted to CDDA anyway?

Is there a difference in quality between burning an mp3 or a wav, or other?

If I want to keep my 90MB wav on my pc, how can I store it so that it can take up as less space as possible and how small can it go?

Thanks.

Ok, I'll try to take it in order.

I asked you what wav setting you used since 90MB for a 7 minute wav file strikes me as being a bit high, I'd expect about 70MB for a standard 16-bit 44.1KHz stereo (i.e. cd quality) wav file.

Now for more general notions.

Since your wav is obtained from a previously lossy compressed format like mp3 or ra (or through dMC AUxliairy Input from a .ram), it will be no better audio-wise than those original ones. However most audio cd burning software requires wav for burning to cd audio. Some can handle mp3 because they will do the conversion on the fly. Real Player I believe can burn audio cd's using .ra or .rm files as well, as it also does the conversion to wav on the fly.
dMC CD Writer goes further in that it can actually burn audio cd's from any of the supported formats for which you also have the required codecs installde.

You have to be careful when you decide to burn cd's using mp3 files. There's a distinction between an audio cd and a data cd. The audio cd essentially contains the wav files (as cda) whereas the data cd just stores the mp3 files (or others) as they would be in a folder on your pc, unmodified at all.

You can save space on your drive and store your newly reconstitued wav into one of the lossless compressed formats as those for which you find codecs at Codec central (e.g. Monkeys). At least your wav file will not get any worse when you restore it from one of those formats prior to burning an audio cd (or use dMC CD Writer to burn an audio cd directly from the various formats it supports, as it will do the conversion to wav and thus cda also on the fly).

I hope I didn't confuse you more because really there are many ways to achieve the same thing :confused:

[Unregistered]

Re: Converting .ram files.

When you asked "What did you convert to?", I thought you meant format, not setting, for which I answered ram to wav. Sorry...I used standard 16-bit 44.1KHz stereo.

My CD Burner converts the audio automatically into CDDA, so I don't have to worry about that. I just wanted to know if it made any difference if I input the files as wav or mp3 to burn to CD.

"Real Player I believe can burn audio cd's using .ra or .rm files as well"

REALLY?!?!?! Hmmm, that would really save me LOTS of time and trouble...BUT...messing with Real Player installs is what makes a mess of my other important audio software and codecs and stuff.

My burning software is quite foolproof. It just asks if I want to burn an audio CD or data CD and do everything automatically.

Thanks C; you haven't confused me at all!

[bob1941]

Re: Converting .ram files.

Christina's right, RealOnePlayer can burn the real audio files directly to CD . However you can't do that with their standard free download player. You'll need to pony up and buy their latest and greatest to get the burner feature.

And you're so right about the fun RealOnePlayer installs can have with other audio stuff. It tries to control everything you don't specifically say no to. I use it occasionally and I've got it pretty well under control. It's handy for some applications, and I also have rawavrecorder to convert from ra to PCM. Of course, once it's in PCM I can use dmc to convert it to whatever format I choose. Yeah, I know ...... roundabout.

Bob