Convert Streaming Windows Media (ASF?) to mp3?

[ham]

We have a vendor that will be streaming some live audio for us in windows media streaming format (is that ASF files?). They will also archive the files in the same format. We'd like to take these archive files and convert them to MP3 for our own archive. We don't want to use an actual stream ripper (that records while playing) but rather we'd like to be able to take the actual source files (which we have access too) and convert them to MP3.

Does this product do that? If so, can this product be called programatically at all?

[ChristinaS]

Re: Convert Streaming Windows Media (ASF?) to mp3?

We have a vendor that will be streaming some live audio for us in windows media streaming format (is that ASF files?). They will also archive the files in the same format. We'd like to take these archive files and convert them to MP3 for our own archive. We don't want to use an actual stream ripper (that records while playing) but rather we'd like to be able to take the actual source files (which we have access too) and convert them to MP3.

Does this product do that? If so, can this product be called programatically at all?

It depends on the actual makeup of the ASF file. In general they are exactly like all wma files if they contain only audio, or wmv if they have video. If it's like any regular wma, then just use dMC and convert it to whatever you want.
You'll need the Windows Media Player codecs from Codec Central.

However they could be containing multi-bitrate streams in which case I think you'll need a program like SDP from http://sdp.ppona.com/ to capture one of them so you can convert it (if the file is on your PC, SDP can still handle it locally). I only generally use SDP for streams off the web which I cannot capture otherwise. Worth a try in any case.

What do you mean by "can this product be called programatically "?

[ham]

Re: Convert Streaming Windows Media (ASF?) to mp3?

I need to get more details from the vendor, but this is my understanding:

Audio will be streamed live. At that time they will also save them off as archives. We could have access to these files, either streaming the archives, or just FTPing in and grabbing the source files.

So, I could write a script that would FTP to the server daily and grab the files. Ideally, I could then script this application to 'watch a folder' and convert any ASF files it gets automatically. Basically to avoid having to have someone manually convert these files daily.

[kimmchii]

Re: Convert Streaming Windows Media (ASF?) to mp3?

you can use download manager like NetTransport or Wellget to download the live streaming asf, then change the extension from .asf to .wma and convert to mp3 using dbM.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Convert Streaming Windows Media (ASF?) to mp3?

you can use download manager like NetTransport or Wellget to download the live streaming asf, then change the extension from .asf to .wma and convert to mp3 using dbM.

You don't even need to change the extension, dMC works fine with .asf, it treats it just like any .wma file.

And if the only way to get the file is through streaming, well, the program SDP can be programmed through its "VCR" settings to performs the capture of the stream at set times. Never used that function myself, but I've seen it there.

Personally I'd use that befroe NetTransport, as that tends to hijack all forms of downloads on one's PC - at least this is what I remember from the one time I installed it and ran it.

I don't know how the conversion can be done outside of the dMC wrapper, but there is a developper forum and I'm sure I've seen reference to such things.

[kimmchii]

Re: Convert Streaming Windows Media (ASF?) to mp3?

You don't even need to change the extension, dMC works fine with .asf, it treats it just like any .wma file.

And if the only way to get the file is through streaming, well, the program SDP can be programmed through its "VCR" settings to performs the capture of the stream at set times. Never used that function myself, but I've seen it there.

Personally I'd use that befroe NetTransport, as that tends to hijack all forms of downloads on one's PC - at least this is what I remember from the one time I installed it and ran it.

thanks for the tip.