Simple audio conversion: Real to MP3

[Terry Pinnell]

I have a 50 or so RealPlayer files (.RA extension) which I want to
convert to MP3. Recommendations please?

 

[old jon]

I have a 50 or so RealPlayer files (.RA extension) which I want to
convert to MP3. Recommendations please?

It appears that Irfanview could do that. Not sure if it can `batch` tho`.
bw..OJ

 

[elaich]

I have a 50 or so RealPlayer files (.RA extension) which I want to
convert to MP3. Recommendations please?

Good luck. Real Networks, like Microsoft, quashes every converter that
appears. dbPoweramp used to do it, but doesn't any more. The best thing I
can recommend is to play the files in Real Player and use sound capture
software to record it.

 

[Stephan List]

Probably "Switch"? ==>
http://nch.com.au/switch/index.html

CU
Stephan

 

[old jon]

I have a 50 or so RealPlayer files (.RA extension) which I want to
convert to MP3. Recommendations please?

Hi T. you can D\load Switch here.
http://nch.com.au/switch/index.html
bw..OJ

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Hi T. you can D\load Switch here.
http://nch.com.au/switch/index.html
bw..OJ

OJ, Stephan: Thanks both. Installed SWITCH and it looks good. Have yet
to try IrfanView.

elaich: Actually, latest dbPoweramp *can* do it! I found it before
seeing these replies. Requires a plug-in called DirectShow, and was
sort of complicated to install. But seems to work.

 

[tobyjj]

OJ, Stephan: Thanks both. Installed SWITCH and it looks good. Have yet
to try IrfanView.

elaich: Actually, latest dbPoweramp *can* do it! I found it before
seeing these replies. Requires a plug-in called DirectShow, and was
sort of complicated to install. But seems to work.

Try this- it claims to work - I haven't tried it on rm yet, but it
certainly works with vobs to mp3.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

or try this - GX - Transcoder seems to do this alright
http://www.germanixsoft.de/
2.23h Build 2863]

Help file is in German but the program is preety intuitive.

Regards TJ lurking

 

[Saul Rabinowitz]

I have a 50 or so RealPlayer files (.RA extension) which I want to
convert to MP3. Recommendations please?

Are you certain that what you've saved are Real Player files?
My experience has been that when you click to "save" a "file" in Real
Player, what you're saving, in fact, is just a link for a fresh download.

The purpose of this technique is so that Real Networks can "serve" you
with a fresh payload of advertising. You see, Real Networks is an
advertising company. The technology is designed to expressely prevent
users from storing content. They want you back, over and over again.
They make their money selling eyeballs (yours).

To end users, Real Networks is abusive, dishonest, and sleazy. They
raped my computer during installation twice, and I'll never install
anything that comes from them again or do business with them in any way.
The fact that so many non-commercial broadcasters have standardized on
their technology is a shame. Sadly, once I figured out how it functions,
I realized that it is a good technology for what it does (so long as you
don't want high-fidelity music). Once Real Player is installed, it is
virtually impossible to un-install the program completely unless you
format your hard disk. That's been my own experience. (Quick Time is
about as abusive).

Having said that, there are alternative ways to foil this nefarious company.
1. Use a media player that employs the Real Alternative codec file set.
Real Alternative is typically packaged with Media Player Classic -- they
work well together.
2. Store and/or manipulate Real streams the only way that's possible:
use an audio file converter that grabs the Real stream after it's been
converted to audio. This is the one stage after which it is impossible
for Real to control the content or to control _you_. (I don't have the
name of one handy, sorry.)

Check it out.

Saul (who'll never be Paul)

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Are you certain that what you've saved are Real Player files?
My experience has been that when you click to "save" a "file" in Real
Player, what you're saving, in fact, is just a link for a fresh download.

The purpose of this technique is so that Real Networks can "serve" you
with a fresh payload of advertising. You see, Real Networks is an
advertising company. The technology is designed to expressely prevent
users from storing content. They want you back, over and over again.
They make their money selling eyeballs (yours).

To end users, Real Networks is abusive, dishonest, and sleazy. They
raped my computer during installation twice, and I'll never install
anything that comes from them again or do business with them in any way.
The fact that so many non-commercial broadcasters have standardized on
their technology is a shame. Sadly, once I figured out how it functions,
I realized that it is a good technology for what it does (so long as you
don't want high-fidelity music). Once Real Player is installed, it is
virtually impossible to un-install the program completely unless you
format your hard disk. That's been my own experience. (Quick Time is
about as abusive).

Having said that, there are alternative ways to foil this nefarious company.
1. Use a media player that employs the Real Alternative codec file set.
Real Alternative is typically packaged with Media Player Classic -- they
work well together.
2. Store and/or manipulate Real streams the only way that's possible:
use an audio file converter that grabs the Real stream after it's been
converted to audio. This is the one stage after which it is impossible
for Real to control the content or to control _you_. (I don't have the
name of one handy, sorry.)

Check it out.

Saul (who'll never be Paul)

Thanks. I share your views about the intrusiveness of Real Player.
Maybe I'll try that alternative, although I fret about whether it will
prove compatible/comfortable in *all* situations?

I this case, yes, the .RA files are, er, real music files, not links.
I've managed to convert a few of them.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

OJ, Stephan: Thanks both. Installed SWITCH and it looks good. Have yet
to try IrfanView.

elaich: Actually, latest dbPoweramp *can* do it! I found it before
seeing these replies. Requires a plug-in called DirectShow, and was
sort of complicated to install. But seems to work.

Try this- it claims to work - I haven't tried it on rm yet, but it
certainly works with vobs to mp3.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

or try this - GX - Transcoder seems to do this alright
http://www.germanixsoft.de/
2.23h Build 2863]

Help file is in German but the program is preety intuitive.

Regards TJ lurking

Thanks, I'll give those a try sometime.

 

[Richard Steinfeld]

Thanks. I share your views about the intrusiveness of Real Player.
Maybe I'll try that alternative, although I fret about whether it will
prove compatible/comfortable in *all* situations?

I this case, yes, the .RA files are, er, real music files, not links.
I've managed to convert a few of them.

Please provide some further information about how you managed to save
..ra files as actual content files.

I just loaded up MP3myMP3. So far, it seems very difficult to live with,
but that's because there's no documentaion and nothing's explained.
Operation isn't intuitive. Worse, it crashed each of three times that I
installed it. The installation routine is not user-friendly, especially
on my Windows ME system. It was especially uncooperative with my
installation tracking utility.

About compatibility/comfort, I'll add this, since I've been using this
combo (RA/MPC) for the last 3 years or so to download 1-hour public
radio programs (USA radio station sources -- for which Real streaming
is, sadly, the lingua franca). But note: I have been downloading
directly to 1-hour audio cassettes. Now that I've got an MP3 player, I
want to put things into that format instead.

Media Player Classic usually works well. It's a bit klutzy and the
method of setting file types with confidence eludes me. It's not slick:
there's no equalizer, for instance. But since my purpose is for speech
content, excellent fidelity is secondary. As a music and audio person,
almost all compression methods don't cut it, and Real usually is rather
garish for music. MP3 can actually be OK for many music forms except
classical. Like DVD, the audio compression systems are selectable for
the amount of sound that's thrown away. This choice is made by the
content provider.

At this point, my MPC installation seems to be breaking down. This may
have something to do with the OS on this computer: Windows ME. The other
problem, as you may surmise, is that Real constantly tweaks their
codecs, so within a certain period of time, the content providers have
caught up with the state of Real's codecs, and you have to install a
fresh load of the latest version of MPC and Real Alternative in order to
catch up with the streams that you want. Typically, things will work
fine for a few months at least.

All of this is definitely preferable to installing Real Player (or Quick
Time) -- programs that rape your computer -- the only way to remove
these horrors is to destroy your entire installation of Operating
System, software, and files -- in other words, everything -- and
re-install the entire mess _without_ these contemptuous programming
outrages. This is very serious, since on my system, it probably takes a
solid week of work to re-install and debug everything.

There should be laws against programming like this; as you already know,
the internet is still a lot like the old American west (and, hey:
Australia, too: right?). This software is spyware and it's also almost
like putting a virus on your system.

I forgot: what kind of program content do you want to download?

Richard