Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Audio to MP3...

R

Roy Hammond

Jan 1, 1970
0
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?
 
L

Laurence Taylor

Jan 1, 1970
0
Roy said:
Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

I don't know if any MP3 players have record facilities, but if you
can't find one, you can record on to your PC (Your sound card may have
come with suitable software, otherwise Audacity is good and free), and
card readers are now pretty cheap - my local library has them for £10.

--

rgds
LAurence

....Statehood: A government gangster.
---*TagZilla 0.059* http://tagzilla.mozdev.org
 
P

Patrick Bolton

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi Roy,

I have a Creative Zen Nano, which has line input recording facilies, which I
have used to record radio programs to listen to later. Its a bit fiddly as
the screen/interface is OK for those with macro vision. It is worth looking
at the creative line as they make some newer models with better screens etc

Patrick
 
Roy said:
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

you can download the radio program in mp3 format already, just buy a
cheap mp3 player at your local discount store.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/
 
A

amdx

Jan 1, 1970
0
Roy Hammond said:
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays,
talks, and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing
housework, gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build,
that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a
SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?
The program below is a timer/recorder.
http://www.dago.pmp.com.pl/messer/
You can connect a radio to the audio input of
your computer and it will record at the times you have set. Read through the
page
to get all details, there is need for another (listed) program to convert to
mp3 format
(on the fly).
But as someone said, it is already online in mp3 format, that maybe
easier.
Mike
http://www.dago.pmp.com.pl/messer/
 
D

default

Jan 1, 1970
0
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

Better is relative

I use a computer and CDex to convert wave files (the computer recorder
format) into mp3's. It will also handle OogVorbis and some other
formats.

http://pricelessware.org/thelist/med.htm#Editor: CD Ripper

For the player I have a cheap $15 player that accepts SD cards. One
card sits in a USB holder that makes it a USB flash drive - that one
is sucking down music while the other one is in the player.

512 Mb SD cards are down around $4 - $10 and 1 GB cards are $7 - $20

Project Gutenberg is putting a lot of material in mp3 and ogg format
and my wife likes to listen to the audio books. Now I'm looking for a
converter for speex (spx extension - speech quality) to use with
Gutenberg.

CD ripping software (to convert audio CD to mp3) used to go through an
intermediate stage: CDDA to WAV to MP3 - many "ripping" programs
also provide file conversion today. The really old ripping programs
converted to wave files then it was up to the op to use another
converter to turn that into mp3.
 
D

Don Bowey

Jan 1, 1970
0
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

Do you have a computer? If yes, what kind?

Do a Google search for "audio editor." Many are available, and some are
free.

I recently set up my son-in-law to convert his record collection to MP3, and
records are only a little more complex than tapes, because the editor for
records needs an RIAA equalizer. For your tapes you just need to play them
back on a compatible player; Metal tape, etc.

After that it's up to you for whether you save the file after each tune, or
after a dozen tunes. If the latter, you can always load the file into the
editor and save each tune separately if you want. There is no degradation
to the MP3 in doing this.

Have fun.

Don

Don
 
D

Don Bowey

Jan 1, 1970
0
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

One last thought........ The iTunes software is FREE, and available for PC
and Mac, and you can dowload it from Apple. It is a great way to organize
your music and play it with your computer. You do not need to use any of
it's other features.

Don
 
F

Flippant

Jan 1, 1970
0
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

Do it direct:
Xitel Inport
http://www.xitel.com/product_inport.htm

Line-In to USB out.

Record to wav, encode with any mp3 encoder (literally thousands of
front ends and encoder combinations)

Write to whatever media you wish: CD, SD/MMC...
 
N

niftydog

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
One last thought........ The iTunes software is FREE, and available for PC
and Mac, and you can dowload it from Apple. It is a great way to organize
your music and play it with your computer. You do not need to use any of
it's other features.


Wow, someone ACTUALLY recommending iTunes... I guess there's a first for
everything.

I've had (and heard) nothing but complaints about iTunes from all my mates.

Anyway, don't you have to have an iPod if you want to upload files from
iTunes or does it interface with any mp3 player these days?

niftydog
 
D

Don Bowey

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wow, someone ACTUALLY recommending iTunes... I guess there's a first for
everything.

I've had (and heard) nothing but complaints about iTunes from all my mates.

Anyway, don't you have to have an iPod if you want to upload files from
iTunes or does it interface with any mp3 player these days?

niftydog

Many people badmouth things in their ignorance. You do not need an iPod to
use iTunes, but you cannot download from iTunes to a non-iPod.

But every music file that show up in iTunes, exists in a set of folders that
you can use however you want.

I probably listen to more music in my computer using iTunes rather than
listening to my iPod. As I said, iTunes is a good tool for organizing your
music. But also it will rip your CDs for you, burn CDs for you, change
formats to and from AAC, MP3, etc.

So what is it about iTunes your buds don't like?

Don
 
K

Kevin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Roy said:
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on. ....

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?
....
Roy,

I also like to listen to the BBC programs but since I live in
California (I'm originally from England) I can't receive the programs
directly.

The BBC does not make many programs downloadable but most are available
live from their website or from from their "Listen Again" page at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

I play back the programs from the web site and capture them using the
virtual soundcard program TotalRecorder (from High Criteria), a similar
one called Messer is available for free
(http://www.snapfiles.com/download/dlmesser.html).

As the program plays it creates an MP3 file. This MP3 file can then be
downloaded to an MP3 player (or put onto a CD etc).

I edit the programs where necessary either using the built-in
facilities of TotalRecorder or using MP3DirectCut (free).

For speech (plays, comedy programs etc) I use 32kbits/sec with 22.05KHz
sampling mono. This takes about 15MB/hour of recording so a 1GB MP3
player can store ~65Hours of programs. The BBC streams their material
using RealAudio (not MP3) at about 44Kbits/sec. Usually the quality is
quite adequate.

kevin
 
N

niftydog

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
Many people badmouth things in their ignorance.

True enough, but these are first hand accounts.
So what is it about iTunes your buds don't like?

Well, two recent cases, these are as related to me, I have no first hand
experience myself so I'm not ruling out finger trouble!

Mates daughter buys iPod, installs iTunes, fills it up with music, all's
good. Daughter figures "don't need this anymore" and deletes the
library... stupid I know. Next time she plugs in the iPod it assumes you
want to synchronise and promptly deletes everything from the iPod
without giving you a choice.

Different mate buys iPod for son, son installs iTunes, fills it up. Next
day, PC dies. Mate cobbles together another PC. Son hooks up iPod,
iTunes refuses to do anything with it because it's not the original
iTunes library that is associated with that iPod.

Personally I just hate the whole copyright issue, and it's not entirely
directed at iTunes. I have a Sony HiMD and it's gotten me hot under the
collar more than once.

Every time a big corporation like Apple or Sony takes away some of the
flexibility of systems like this people get incredibly angry... and yet
they STILL buy the stuff like the zombies they are.



Mostly I just hate that the majority of honest people suffer because of
the minority of dishonest people. Happens to me almost everyday in one
way or another.

niftydog
 
Y

YD

Jan 1, 1970
0
Late at night, by candle light, "Roy Hammond"
For many years now my wife has recorded onto cassette tape, from her hifi
unit using its programming facilities, the daily radio BBC R4 plays, talks,
and
the Archers, and then listens to them on her walkman while doing housework,
gardening, and so on.

She's gone through many walkmans - the cassette deck mechanisms eventually
wear out. As an old telecoms/electronics engineer, I've enjoyed myself
keeping them going until they get beyond economic repair.

So, it occurs to me why not change to an MP3 player? Possibly longer term
viability and better reliability? And use SD/MMC cards to record onto and
playback from.

Problem I'd like help with...

Is there a kit or design, than I can buy and/or put together or build, that
will take the audio line output from the hifi unit and record onto a SD/MMC
card?

Or is there a better way?

If you can connect the source to the computer's sound card grab
Audacity from sourceforge. Copy the mp3 to the player after
conversion.

- YD.
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Every time a big corporation like Apple or Sony takes away some of the
flexibility of systems like this people get incredibly angry... and yet
they STILL buy the stuff like the zombies they are.

It should not be forgotten that copyrights should be granted to corporations
by the public under conditions that the public decides and not by
politicians depending on the bribes the politicians receive.

IMO every extension of copyright should be accompanied by ever increasing
license fees which could go to the public purse for socially beneficial
purposes. If Disney wants to copyright Mickey for eternity they should be
prepared to pay for the privilege.
 
D

Don Bowey

Jan 1, 1970
0
True enough, but these are first hand accounts.


Well, two recent cases, these are as related to me, I have no first hand
experience myself so I'm not ruling out finger trouble!

Mates daughter buys iPod, installs iTunes, fills it up with music, all's
good. Daughter figures "don't need this anymore" and deletes the
library... stupid I know. Next time she plugs in the iPod it assumes you
want to synchronise and promptly deletes everything from the iPod
without giving you a choice.


Yes, unfortunate, but how often has someone accidently trashed a critical
piece of System software and the had to reinstall the System?

The iPod Library proble, however, is very easily fixed: 1. Turn on iTunes
and move it to one side. 2. Find the iPod music folder. 3. Being
careful (very), drag the folder to the iTunes window that is headed Title,
Album, Artist, etc, (the BIG window), and drop it. It will NOT actually
move the folder, but it Will rebuild the Library.
Different mate buys iPod for son, son installs iTunes, fills it up. Next
day, PC dies. Mate cobbles together another PC. Son hooks up iPod,
iTunes refuses to do anything with it because it's not the original
iTunes library that is associated with that iPod.

This, too has a simple fix. As I recall, you just reset the iPod and then
plug it into the new computer. Lots of kids do this. BUT, first, be sure
the iTunes options for iPods are set.
Personally I just hate the whole copyright issue, and it's not entirely
directed at iTunes. I have a Sony HiMD and it's gotten me hot under the
collar more than once.

I don't see any copuright issues in the above "problems."
Every time a big corporation like Apple or Sony takes away some of the
flexibility of systems like this people get incredibly angry... and yet
they STILL buy the stuff like the zombies they are.

What did Apple take away? Anyone who does something wrong with piece of
hardware or software will need to overcome it.
Mostly I just hate that the majority of honest people suffer because of
the minority of dishonest people. Happens to me almost everyday in one
way or another.

The only issue you might be talking about here is Apple's use of the MP4
format to mark purchased music, preventing playing it on any computer other
than the four that the purchaser can authorize or de-authorize at will, So
what's the big problem?

For what it's worth, it is sooooooo simple to undo the "theft protection."
My backup files of purchased music are straight MP3, but I still won't swap
them, I do the conversion, because if the HD bombs, I will lose the music
receipts and I don't want that hassle.

Don
 
N

niftydog

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
The iPod Library proble, however, is very easily fixed...
but it Will rebuild the Library.

That assumes you still HAVE the library! I know it's stupid to go
deleting files, but that's not the crux of the matter. The real issue
was that iTunes gave them no option before it merrily deleted the files
from the iPod.

This, too has a simple fix. As I recall, you just reset the iPod and then
plug it into the new computer. Lots of kids do this. BUT, first, be sure
the iTunes options for iPods are set.

Seems unnecessarily complicated don't you think?

I don't see any copuright issues in the above "problems."

I didn't link that comment with the stories I was relating, that's why I
said "Personally..."

What did Apple take away?

You cannot deny that they are limiting the use of purchased music. Such
restrictions didn't exist until recently.

Anyone who does something wrong with piece of
hardware or software will need to overcome it.

I hardly think that having your PC suddenly die on you could be
considered doing "something wrong with a piece of hardware." Do you?

The only issue you might be talking about here is Apple's use of the MP4
format to mark purchased music, preventing playing it on any computer other
than the four that the purchaser can authorize or de-authorize at will, So
what's the big problem?

The problem is that you are forced to take extra steps in order to be
"allowed" to do what you used to do at will. Fair and reasonable use of
purchased music should not be punished or put beyond the reach of basic
users.

For what it's worth, it is sooooooo simple to undo the "theft protection."

....for you, but my Dad, for instance, would have no hope of knowing how
to go about doing the same, and the same goes for my mates 8 year old
son. In fact until you told me I wouldn't have had a clue about any of
this stuff either, and I consider myself very tech savvy!

That's exactly what I'm talking about; It puts a once simple technology
beyond the reach of basic users. It forces knowledgeable users like
yourself to create ways of circumventing the flaws and "safety netting"
the data. It shouldn't have to be like this, but you no longer have the
choice.


niftydog
 
D

Don Bowey

Jan 1, 1970
0
That assumes you still HAVE the library! I know it's stupid to go
deleting files, but that's not the crux of the matter. The real issue
was that iTunes gave them no option before it merrily deleted the files
from the iPod.

You didn't read what I wrote. I agree the "Library" is GONE. A "Library"
represents the music files, but it is NOT the music files. What I said was,
find the folder containing the music files and drag and drop the folder on
the iTunes main window. That will permit iTunes to make a new Library,
Very simple,

Seems unnecessarily complicated don't you think?


No, I don't. Kids do it all the time.
I didn't link that comment with the stories I was relating, that's why I
said "Personally..."



You cannot deny that they are limiting the use of purchased music. Such
restrictions didn't exist until recently.

The MP4 restriction has been there from the beginning.
I hardly think that having your PC suddenly die on you could be
considered doing "something wrong with a piece of hardware." Do you?

Certainly not, if you clip my post to leave only your biased comment.
The problem is that you are forced to take extra steps in order to be
"allowed" to do what you used to do at will. Fair and reasonable use of
purchased music should not be punished or put beyond the reach of basic
users.

Let me plant a thought in your mind......Don't Buy Your Music From The Apple
Music Store. You will be happier and we won't miss the business a whole lot
in their financials.

You can still do whatever you want with all your non-MP4 music. Itunes and
iPods are not just for music bought at the Apple store. Most of mine is
music ripped in from CDs I've collected, records I imported, etc,
 
Top