Re: TECH: software for recording your voice

Eric Christopherson wrote:
>
> On Wed, 30 Jun 1999, Sally Caves wrote:
> > And 5), in addition, I don't see that RealProducer G2 has
> > any downsizing capabilities.  I think I have to buy the Plus
> > to get that.  It looks like a very fancy way of producing .rm
> > files.  Experience will tell me whether they are any more
> > compact than the .wav files I make with my simple Windows98
> > recording system.
Experience has told me that they are AMAZINGLY compact compared
to my old system of producing .wav files (with Windows recorder).
I now have the entire song "Amo Ro Hsera," about thirty seconds
long, in a file that's under a hundred K.  But I had to convert
it to a .ra file, because my RealPlayer Plus won't read .rm files:

        http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teoreal.html

> > Sally Caves wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi, Mia.  I just downloaded RealProducer G2's freeware.  It seems
> > > that you have to have RealPlayer G2 (I have RealPlayer Plus) in
> > > order to hear what you've recorded.  If I download RealPlayer G2,
> > > does that replace my Plus?  Seems weird, because I paid money for
> > > the Plus, and the G2 is free.  Will it give me all the same
> > > capabilities?
>
> I think you can upgrade from RealPlayer Plus to G2 Plus at www.real.com.
Hmmm.  I distrust upgrades.  Will it replace my existing software?  Are
there glitches?  I hate this.  RealProducer G2 was no problem to
download,
but I'm wary at all times.  Nonetheless, it will probably let me read
.rm files.  But if I make only .rm files, I probably cut out a sizable
number of my listening audience, don't I?


>
> You can make Windows hide the bar by moving your cursor to the top edge of it,
> at which point the cursor should become a double arrow, then hold the left
> button and drag it down, which resizes it to virtually nothing. Just drag it up
> to get it back. Alternately, right-click on the bar, pick Properties, and there
> should be an option in there for "auto-hide," which will hide the bar until you
> move your mouse back down there.
Amazingly, I figured out how to do this.  I now have the bar on "auto
hide."
Takes a while to get used to.  But the design of freeware G2 seems to be
made to entice you to get the more expensive model.  This is freeware,
so
I don't know if it gives you the capacity to convert to .ra.  My server
won't
recognize .rm files.  It turns them into a print out of gibberish.  I
wonder
how many other people have that problem?  So I was despondent until I
figured
out an unlikely way to convert my files.  I just renamed them.  I never
thought
that would work at all.  I made Amo Ro Hsera on Real Producer, saved it
to
the directory where I do my websites, went in to the directory, changed
its
extension from .rm to .ra, uploaded it, and voila, I could hear it!  Can
the
rest of you?

It's a roundabout way to get what I want, but there it is.  The .ra
files
are much more compact than the .wav files.  Is there anyone here who
cannot
read .ra files?  I fear that Boudewijn said once that he can't.

My RealPlayer can hear .rm files only in the browser.  But if I upload
and
try to listen to them from the web, they are converted into print texts
with
gibberish.  But if I change the extension to .ra, they are audible to my
system.  It must be that .rm and .ra are not really all that essentially
different audio files.

Sally
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teoreal.html