Hey just wanted to drop a quick thank you for that mini tutorial. I remember the first time back in version 2.something, I converted my first mp3 to wav and didn't know about switching plugins back and forth. I thought I broke my machine instead I had about 30 large wave files and no sound was coming out. good times anyway I don't think I would use winamp for converting but I had to thank you for writing a nice concise mini tutorial that actually was correct and made sense. bb
----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Skarstad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:06 AM Subject: this is a bit lengthy, how to convert files using winamp > Hello everyone > > I've seen some > questions about this on a couple lists so I thought I'd write this > up. It is a bit lengthy as the subject line says but I hope you'll > stick with it. A while ago, the subject of converting files using > Winamp came up, and I thought I'd explain the process in some detail > for those who are interested. Unfortunately, real audio files don't > really work well with Winamp nowadays. At least, that's been my > experience. If anyone's been able to get them to play in Winamp 5.5, > please please let me know! > > > However, if you have a WMA file that you want as an mp3, or if you > have a cd track as a wav file that you want as an mp3, you can use > Winamp's discwriter plugin to do this task. > So, here's how you do it, step by step. Remember, if you have an > interest in this, save the e-mail somewhere and go back to it later > so you can perform the steps. > > Ok, here we go! > > 1. Fire up Winamp, you knew that one would be in there. > > 2. now find the file that you want to convert and open it up in > Winamp, either by pressing enter on it or through the open file dialogue. > 3. Ok, now press the letter v to stop it, we don't want it to keep > playing. > 4. now here's where the fun starts. go to the preferences, control > plus p of course. > 5. go to the plugins section and then choose output in the tree view. > > 6. now tab over to the list of plugins, and focus on the one called > the Nullsoft Discwriter plugin, your version number may vary but it > all comes to the same. > > 7. now, it's time to configure it so that we can tell what type of > file to convert to. > so tab to the configure button. > > 8. now you're going to be in a dialogue with some buttons in it. the > first one will determine where your output file, that is to say your > converted file will be saved. you may hear something like,output file > location c:\doccuments and settings...my music button. > If you press that button, a dialogue will pop up and you can then > determine where your file will be saved. > 9. now that you've done that, you'll be back in the dialogue, and the > next thing you'll see is a checkbox that says,output to directory > containing source files, and by default, this is unchecked. This is > so that you can have your converted file in exactly the same folder > as the original file was. > so check that if you want the file to go there, i would do that for > simplicities sake. You can always move it later. > 10. Next checkbox you'll see says, display save as dialogue for every > file. This is so that if you're converting an entire list of files, > you'll be able to determine where each file goes. I would imagine > that you would probably want them all to go in the same folder, but > maybe not? so check that if you like, i normally leave it as is > because usually I'm only converting one file. This is unchecked by > default. > 11. Next up, we have a combo box that determines if there are or > numbers at the beginning of your outputted file name. > the choices you have are, disabled, 1 digit, 2 digits, 3 digits and > 4 digits. > I can't imagine why anyone would actually want 4 digits, that is > unless you're converting literally thousands of files, which i've > never done and probably won't ever do. If I'm converting something > from an album i like to at least have a number at the beginning of > the file name, 01, or 02, depending on where you are in the playlist of > files. > but if you want to disable this, you can. > > 12. Next, we have a combo box that determines the title format, the > one by default is % title %. this means you get the % which equals > the first 2 numbers like we mentioned before, artist name, title and > then the track name. so i would keep that as is. > > 13. Next we have output file type, and the choice is set to auto > recommended. this is so you can choose different file formats. and > after that there is a checkbox that says enable single mode, which > I'm not sure about. so leave auto recommended as is, and the single > mode check box on my system is unchecked. > 14. Ok, now we're getting to the good part here, hang with me > folks! this next checkbox will determine wether or not Winamp > actually remembers what file you convert to a lot, so if you convert > to mp3 a lot, leave this checkbox checked so you can just perform the > final few steps. > Now, tab once again and you'll land on a button that determines what > file you can actually convert your file to. for mine in particular, > this button says, > MPEG layer 3 192KBPS, 44.1 K Hertz, stereo > that's usually what i convert to, but if you want something > different, you can press this button and you can change the file > type, bitrate and sampling rate of your file. Note that if you don't > have the radium codec installed, you won't be able to convert to > anything higher than 56k, 22.50 k hertz stereo. > I believe the lame encoder will fix this too, and the lame encoder > should be very easy to find if you do a little hunting around. > 15. Ok, now that you've determined everything about your file, it's > time to actually do the conversion! So tab past that next checkbox, > i have no idea what the thread priority hack refers to, so just press > ok and you'll be in the preferences again. so now, close the > preferences in the usual way. > > 16. Ok, now to convert your file, press the letter x which will, > essentially play your file, but you won't hear any sound. Trust me, > you won't. that's just how this plugin works because it moves very > quickly. > If you want to know the status of your conversion, press the hotkey > which reads your title bar, insert t for JAWS and control shift t for > Window-eyes, or whatever one you use. You will know your file is > converted when you hear the name of your file, followed by Winamp > stopped. Note that while the file conversion happens, you may notice > that software speech is slower to respond, and sometimes it just > doesn't happen at all, but like I say the conversions happen very quickly. > 17. If you followed all the steps above, congratulations, you just > converted your first file with Winamp. Believe me, subsequent > conversions won't be such a long process, especially if you have the > checkbox to remember your file type preferences. But before you go > listen to your newly created file, you have to switch your output > plugin back to the one you ordinarily use. If you attempt to listen > to another file, you'll just be creating more files and you'll have > a lot of stuff on your hard drive you don't want. So, open the > preferences again, tab over to the list of plugins and then choose > the plugin you used before, i would bet it's either the Nullsoft > waveout plugin or the direct sound one. But the idea here is to > change it back to whatever plugin you were using before. so once you > do that, tab to the close button and you can now go back to rockin > with Winamp! I hope this wasn't too long but i did want to write this > process out. This is especially cool because when you want to > convert a file again, all you'll need to do is switch to the > discwriter plugin, play your file and Winamp will convert it. then > all you have to do is switch back to your regular plugin and life's > good. Hope this helped some folks! > > > > > > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
