I Dont Understand How To

**LtData** · January 02, 2006, 03:30 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

First, support is only on this fourm, not via e-mail.
Second, are you asking about .aa files? If so, download the codec on this page http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-directshow.htm and follow the instructions for .aa files here: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthre...7339#post37339

**xoas** · January 02, 2006, 03:33 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

"AA tapes"? Do you mean disks recorded in Audible Audio (.aa) format or materials recorded on audio tape with the tape player connected to your computer or are you referring to materials recorded in Real Audio format?

Assuming that these are files recorded in Real Audio format that you wish to convert to cd format, can you play these files without being connected to the internet?

Before we can advise on what you are doing wrong, we need to figure oout what you are trying to do and how you have been trying to do it. So please try to describe this in everyday terms as best you can.

For future reference, we do not generally provide advice or help via e-mail.
Also, by convention, all capitals in a posting is kind of like yelling in public. Even though you may feel like doing so, it is usually better that you reserve capitals to one or two words for effect.

Best wishes,
Bill

**ladyavon** · January 02, 2006, 06:59 PM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

the sight I am downloading from is http://www.elmoware.com/spktapes.htm

to be honest I do not know what form they are in. All I know is they are speaker tapes.

I am trying to do this for my husband and keep hitting brick walls

**ChristinaS** · January 02, 2006, 07:27 PM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

You are still saying "tapes" - surely that's not what they are. They must be files if you are downlaoding anyhting from anywhere.

If they live on the pc, they are files.

A tape would look like this (never mind the label on it):

**LtData** · January 02, 2006, 07:29 PM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

Ignore me, follow Christina's advice a few posts below, http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showpost...9&postcount=10.

**ChristinaS** · January 02, 2006, 07:34 PM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

Didn't you download from http://www.elmoware.com/dld_fram.htm ?

You'd get the actual .rm file which is the full file, not the meta file.

**ladyavon** · January 02, 2006, 07:43 PM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

I went to the help site for the converter program and it said something about highlighting the file I want to convert then right click and convert should be on the list of things that I can do. However I dont have that option. I tried going to configuration but I dont understand what I am susposed to do there either.

**ladyavon** · January 02, 2006, 11:53 PM

Re: I Dont Understand How To--TRYING THIS AGAIN

TRYING THIS AGAIN

I DOWNLOAD FROM THE FOLLOWING SITE

404 Not Found

http://www.elmoware.com/dld_fram.htm

I REGISTERED THE CONVERTER PROGRAM AND REBOOTED. WHEN I CLICK ON A FILE TO CONVERT AND RIGHT CLICK I STILL DONT GET THE OPTION TO CONVERT.

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO TRY NEXT.

ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR SOMEONE THAT IS NOT REAL COMPUTER SAVY SO TO SPEAK.

**ChristinaS** · January 03, 2006, 01:31 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

1) OK, you have downloaded and saved several audio files from that elmoware site. These files should be Real media files (extension .rm ). If Windows Explorer doesn't show you file extensions, click on Tools > Folder Options > Show file extensions for known file types. This means you get to see the full file names, like: my_song.rm or some-speech.mp3 or whatever.

2) You have downloaded and installed dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC) because you want to convert those audio files to a format other than Real Media.

At this point I hope you are able to play those real media files in a player like Real Player or Real One.

3) Now what you need to do is download and install the codec required to decode real media files - i.e. for the dBpowerAMP Music Converter program to "understand" the real media files, and be able to convert to another file type.

There are 2 codec options, but I think this will be the easiest one to handle for you:

Go to Codec Central at http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-ra.htm and download the older "decoder" codec indicated there in this paragraph:

An older dBpowerAMP RealAudio Input Codec can be tried only if the above DirectShow Codec does not work, this had the limitation of requiring Real Player 8 and would only decode in realtime

You download that codec, you can then install it - make sure it is to the same folder where you installed the original dBpowerAMP Music Converter - keep the default actually.

Once that is done, you should be able to use Windows Explorer, find any of those real media files, right click it and you have Convert To.

Do that, pick a format you want to convert to, say mp3, set the bitrate slider to something not too big, say 32 (because it's speech, not music), and click OK.

Make sure you do NOT select to delete source file after conversion. Let the output go to the default folder as indicated - which should be C:\Converted Music . It will be created for you if it's not already there.

A green window opens up and the conversion starts. You will see no progress for this conversion because Real media gets converted in real time - i.e it takes as long to convert as the duration of the audio file. If it's 50 minutes long, don't panic until after 50 full minutes have passed. Normally at that point it will tell you it's finished. Start with shorter files until you get the hang of it.

The resulting converted file will be found in the folder you specified for it to go to (e.g. c:\Converted Music). The name of the output file will be the same as the initial real media file name, but with the extension mp3 (if that's what you picked to convert to).

When you become more familiar with how dMC works and all this, then you can experiment with a faster codec (but requiring much more involved installation procedures, best left alone for now).

Please post back how you're coming along.

**xoas** · January 03, 2006, 02:08 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To--TRYING THIS AGAIN

EDIT: I wholly subscribe to the advice given by Christina above (which was posted while I was composing the answer below (and attending to a few other details). I leave this post here simply because it may help you better understand what Christina is suggesting and there may be circumstances where some of the extra things I describe might be important.

Follow the directions from the site for downloading these files. They will be saved in Real Audio format. You should have the entire file.

Now what you want to do is to convert this file or files from Real Audio to CD. I do not know what program you are using to burn your CD. Except maybe Real Jukebox (assuming it can burn to CD) or dBpowerAMP CD Writer (also known as dCW) you will first have to convert your Real Audio file to a format that your CD burning program will recognize. All CD burning programs will recognize and be able to burn a CD from .wave files and nearly all can do so from .mp3 files.

dBpowerAMP Music Converter can perform such conversions but first you have to set it up so that it can read and process Real Audio files. This requires installing a decoding codec for Real Audio files. The newer and generally better codec uses a more general decoder called the DirectShow decoder. This will require you to also download and install Real Alternative and it requires you to do some additional tinkering to configure the DirectShow reader to enable it to work with Real Audio files. These steps are described in in the installation pages and, in greater detail, in the Help file that comes with the DirectShow decoder. This approach will require you to set the Real Alternative player as your default player for Real Audio files and it will probably require you to uninstall Real Player. THE OTHER APPROACH for working with Real Audio files is to use the older Real Audio decoder. This does require Real Player.
YOU CAN FIND links to both codecs at Codec Central (tabbed link at the top of this web page) here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-ra.htm

Which to use?
The DirectShow codec requires more work to set up but it works much more quickly once it is set up. The older Real Audio codec reads and converts files in real time (no pun intended, it means that the RealAudio codec can convert a Real Audio file no faster than the time it takes to listen to it; the DirectShow decoder will convert Real Audio files much more quickly). The DirectShow codec may not work with some files. For those files, you would need to use the older codec.

If you are using dBpowerAMP CD Writer (dCW), you should be able to convert directly from Real Audio to CD. You will still need to go through the process described above to enable dCW to work with your Real Audio files.

Hope this helps get you started.
Best wishes,
Bill

**Craze** · January 03, 2006, 02:09 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

Hi Christina,

I downloaded one of these files to see what I got. Since I don't have any of the Real codecs, I got the same result as ladyavon when the right click was tried on the file.

No "Convert To" option showing on the menu.
(Hopefully the following will be helpful).

Off to Codec Central I go to get some codecs.

I download the DirectShow Codec and edited the DirectShow Notepad file that comes with this reader, deleting the .xyz file as instructed and adding the .rm extension and clicked OK.
Then download the Real codecs.
The Real Alternative download installs the Media Player Classic which I like and which I already had. No problem so far. The downloaded file "Bob E" opened and played in Media Player Classic.

I now have the right click option now showing "Convert To" in the menu.

Ladyavon: to configure the dMC Converter, just open it and click OK.

Best wishes.
Craze
PS. My countdown for returning to work is much shorter. (6:30AM tomorrow). :(
Happy New Year!

**ChristinaS** · January 03, 2006, 02:29 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

Ok, I specifically didn't want to confuse the issue with the DirectShow codec. It's too compelx, requires Real Alterantive and a whole bunch of acrobatics. Not intuitive at all and conflicts with Real Player. Nope. Not a good choice for this user at this point.

The older codec is much simpler and straight forward, though slower. Easy does it. Real Player is somethign most people already have anyway if they have ever had to play real media files, and those who do don't much feel like replacing it by Real Alternative and all the rigmarole (unless they are young and aventurous and a bit rebellious

). I know I've only done it as a test myself and a bit of necessity for a specific project, but not my choice by far, thank you very much.

Xoas, why confuse the issue with burning cd's at this point too?

For what it's worth, Real Player can burn directly to audio cd and you need not install codecs. If that's all that's needed, dMC doesn't even come into play.

Sure dCW can also do it, but then you need one or the other codec options. It's getting more complex as we write it seems.

Is a cd the ultimate goal? or files on a pc? or files to put on an mp3 player? I thought the latter was what was needed.

**Craze** · January 03, 2006, 02:53 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

Agreed. Lots of hoops to jump through. I wasn't expecting what I found when loading this codec. Sorry for any added confusion from my post.
Just trying to help get the "Convert To" option up to run this file type which was her stated road block.

Best wishes to all.

**xoas** · January 03, 2006, 03:04 AM

Re: I Dont Understand How To

Christina-
I agree that the older codec is way easier to set up and use and that it is probably the right codec for ladyavon.

I raised the issue about burning cd's because ladyavon's intitial post starts off:

HI THERE I AM HAVING PROBLEMS CONVERTING AA TAPES TO WHAT EVER THEY NEED TO BE CONVERTED TO SO THAT I CAN BURN A CD FOR MY HUSBAND.

So the point seemed to me to be how to prepare these Real Audio files for burning. If Real Player can indeed burn these files to CD, then ladyavon need not worry about doing any conversion (unless, as you surmise, she wants to create an mp3 audio disk or convert them for a portable player). I have not used Real Player in quite some time, so this is news to me.

Perhaps we will learn more from the user herself.

Best wishes,
Bill

I Dont Understand How To

I Dont Understand How To

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