RECORDING AUDIO FOR THE WEB

I am very new at this as well. I need to add clips to my website. I have a few questions...
Thanks for the help!

I need to creat 30sec to 1minute audio clips from an audio CD and place it on the web. I've heard a lot of conflicting information. Could someone set the record straight

1) Should I conver to MP3? .WAV? or some other format? Why?

2) I've noticed a lot of websites offer sound clips in either window media player or real player.
Do both of these players recognize the same format?

3)I heard of a program called Nero. It's supposed to allow me to take audio from my CD and convert it to a proper format so I can make an audio clip for my site. Any scoop on this program?
Any other suggestions for software?

Thanks,

Barry

P.S. If you have any info that can help I would really appreciate it.

1) Should I conver to MP3? .WAV? or some other format? Why?

MP3 .. particularly within a Flash SWF .. it's very compact.

2) I've noticed a lot of websites offer sound clips in either window media
player or real player.
Do both of these players recognize the same format?

No. Each has its own native format. Windows Media player can play several.

3)I heard of a program called Nero. It's supposed to allow me to take
audio from my CD and convert it to a proper format so I can make an audio

clip for my site. Any scoop on this program?

Any other suggestions for software?

Never heard of it .. sounds like a ripper .. there are a lot of them out
there. I have once called Audio Grabber that is free and does a great job.


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| > 3)I heard of a program called Nero. It's supposed to allow me to take

audio from my CD and convert it to a proper format so I can make an audio
clip for my site. Any scoop on this program?
Any other suggestions for software?

Never heard of it .. sounds like a ripper .. there are a lot of them out
there. I have once called Audio Grabber that is free and does a great job.

Nero is a CD burning and ripping software. A great app.
I personally prefer outputting audio to MP3 and then importing that into Flash.
With Flash you have no conflicts or cross-platform issues, especially if you
publish it backward compatible to version 4 to reach the widest audience.

And then there's CleanerXL which will import and export just about any
audio/video codec you can throw at it, but be ready to spend $$.

warren

Nero is CD burner software. Among other things, it takes .wav and .mp3 files
and converts them to a CD audio format for burning CD's that will play in an
audio CD player. The opposite of what you want to do.

You want a "CD ripper." It extracts (rips) the audio encoded on a CD and
converts it to a .wav and/or .mp3 and maybe a number of other audio formats
depending on the capabilities of the program. There are several free and
shareware ones -- just do a web search on "cd ripper."

HTH
Robert
--
"If God had intended for us to see the sunrise,
He would have scheduled it later in the day."
(perform an exorcism for e-mail reply)


"center4hp" <webforumsuser (AT) macromedia (DOT) com> wrote

I am very new at this as well. I need to add clips to my website. I have a
few questions...
Thanks for the help!

I need to creat 30sec to 1minute audio clips from an audio CD and place it
on the web. I've heard a lot of conflicting information. Could someone set

the record straight

1) Should I conver to MP3? .WAV? or some other format? Why?

2) I've noticed a lot of websites offer sound clips in either window media
player or real player.
Do both of these players recognize the same format?

3)I heard of a program called Nero. It's supposed to allow me to take
audio from my CD and convert it to a proper format so I can make an audio

clip for my site. Any scoop on this program?

Any other suggestions for software?

Thanks,

Barry

P.S. If you have any info that can help I would really appreciate it.

First of all, I will do my best to explain this. Please post any more questions and I will get back with answers.

MP3 is a compressed format, but not really suitable for streaming. So your best bet is to use a Real Audio file. This can seem confusing, but it's really easy.

First, you need a program to take your Audio file(.wav, etc.) and make it into a .rm file(Real Media). You can do this with a program like Sound Forge from Sonic Foundry, or WaveLab from Steinberg. Real Networks also makes a program for this, I believe it's called Real Producer or something like that. And there are a few freeware progs out there also. If you need one, I will find one, but I would say search www.download.com for Real Media Encoders.

Ok, so you need to open your audio file in the program of choice. Then, save it as a .rm file. You will usually get an option to save for different modem speeds. You can either choose one, or make multiple copies for different modems. This will just effect the file quality.

Upload the .rm file to your audio folder on your website. Remember the address EXACTLY!

Next, open Notepad, or similar program, preferrably not Microsoft Word, but a simple text editor. Then, all you need to type in is the EXACT address of your audio file, i.e.- http://www.yourdomain.com/audiofolder/audiofile.rm

Then, save the notepad document as a .ram file. DON'T save it as a txt file, but actually name it something like "audiofile.ram." If done correctly, when you view it in My Computer, it should show up as a Real Audio Presentation.

Then, upload your .ram file to the same directory as your .rm file.

Then, make your hyperlink point to the .ram file, NOT THE .RM FILE! Point it to the .ram file. Then, the browser will read it, open up Real Audio program, and the .ram file will point the program to your audio file, and stream it.

If you make seperate files for different modem speeds, you need to create different .ram files fore every audio file, and create links to each one seperately.

I hope this helps. Let us know how it works out. If anyone has any more audio questions, I am happy to help.

Cheers,
Koolkeys

Just another quick note to answer all questions.

Nero is a great program, and does have a wave editor. but not one that allows you to create streaming media files. You really need a program that is made for audio, not CD burning.

Also, I did a search for a Real Audio Encoder on download.com, and there are a few there. I don't know if I'm allowed to link there, so you may have to go there and do a search.

Also, the reason you don't want to use .wav files is because they are too big. When streaming a file, the computer must use a buffer, which means that it must create a temporary "memory" and fill it with part of the file, to keep it going smoothly, the same way as the buffer works on burning CD's. Since each second of audio is much bigger, it would take more time to buffer, and the system would keep having to play catch up, which defeats the purpose, as the listener would have to wait too long.

MP3 files are not made to stream. They are compressed, so they are small, but are meant to be read as a whole file, not a piece at a time.

So Real Media and Windows Media files are your best bet.

Real Audio Player does not support Windows Media files with it's free player, but it does with one of the upgraded players, which most people don't have.

Also, Windows Media player does not support Real Audio files, so you have to make seperate streaming files for each type of stream. However, I've found that most people have Real Audio player, and I can get away with just doing a Real Audio file.

Ok, I think I've covered it all right now. Again, please ask more if you have any questions! Until then, good luck!

Koolkeys

MP3 files are not made to stream. They are compressed, so they are small,
but are meant to be read as a whole file, not a piece at a > > time.

MP3 files are best when streamed. Windows Media Player buffers .mp3, when
you program in DirectShow your using streaming technology, any audio SDK
will provide streaming functionality, samples (small .wav sound bites, small
audio files) or any sound clip that needs to play multiple times (at various
times) in an application are best loaded into memory and held there for the
lifetime of the application.

--
Ron

"Ian Rastall" <idrastall (AT) earthlink (DOT) net> wrote

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 13:46:25 GMT, "Hunter Elliott"
nospam (AT) gatewaycity (DOT) com> wrote:

There is a plug-in for Lame MP3 somewhere on the net, but
unfortunately, I don't know where I found it. Perfectly fine MP3
encoder. The plug-in is free, as well. Integrates into the
above-mentioned menu.

you can find it over at the GoldWave site.

Thanks everyone!

Koolkeys, you say

"MP3 files are not made to stream. They are compressed, so they are small, but are meant to be read as a whole file, not a piece at a time. So Real Media and Windows Media files are your best bet."

Clarification:

1) So Real Media & Windows Media have different formats... Real Media is .rm
What is Windows media?

2)Is Real Media the same as Real Player...same extension/format?

Thanks...greatly appreciated.

Barry

Thanks everyone!

Koolkeys, you say

"So Real Media and Windows Media files are your best bet."

I'm seeking some clarification:

1) So Real Media & Windows Media have different formats... Real Media is .rm
What is Windows media?

2)Is Real Media the same as Real Player...same extension/format?

Thanks...greatly appreciated.

Barry