Tuesday, March 9, 2004
Total Recorder Allows You To Take Internet Streams With You
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "SOFTWARE" @ 08:00 AM
http://www.highcriteria.com
This software doesn't go on your Pocket PC but it does increase the usefulness of your Pocket PC. A few months ago I started recording some streaming broadcasts and saving them as MP3 files. I then used the free Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE in the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack to convert them to slightly smaller WMA files. The initial .WAV file for a 2 hour program is about 1.2GB. The MP3 file at "CD Quality" was around 35-40MB and the 64KB WMA file was around 26-30MB. Sound quality isn't an issue as this is streamed content anyway. Honestly though I couldn't tell the difference between the WAV file and the final WMA.
Total Recorder 4.4, the latest version, can convert directly to WMA now. It still must save the initial file as a WAV file. It can also convert to the WMA 9 voice output. I tried this with several files and while they were reduced to 16-18MB files and the voice quality was still perfectly acceptable, WMP9 on the Pocket PC couldn't play the file if you manually moved the slider, something you are going to do a lot with long files you may play in a few sittings. I don't know if this is a Pocket PC Windows Media problem or a problem with Total Recorder's output, so I've been leaving it at the 64kpbs WMA output.
It also will record from the mic, line in, CD's and DVD's. It supports the WMA 9 lossless codec as well for perfect quality as well as Ogg Vorbis. All formats have a number of settings you can tweak to get a balance of size and quality.
The Standard Edition is $11.95. The Professional Edition, which adds basic sound editing capabilities, scheduled broadcast captures and a few other goodies is $35.95. There is also a $99.95 Developer Edition. It works on just about all versions of Windows. The install puts a fake sound driver in that intercepts your sound before passing it on to the speakers and it always disables your Windows sounds so your recording isn't interrupted by beeps and whirs you have assigned to system events. I've been using it for a few months and have never had a problem. This is another one of those apps that really enhances the usefulness of your Pocket PC.
This software doesn't go on your Pocket PC but it does increase the usefulness of your Pocket PC. A few months ago I started recording some streaming broadcasts and saving them as MP3 files. I then used the free Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE in the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack to convert them to slightly smaller WMA files. The initial .WAV file for a 2 hour program is about 1.2GB. The MP3 file at "CD Quality" was around 35-40MB and the 64KB WMA file was around 26-30MB. Sound quality isn't an issue as this is streamed content anyway. Honestly though I couldn't tell the difference between the WAV file and the final WMA.
Total Recorder 4.4, the latest version, can convert directly to WMA now. It still must save the initial file as a WAV file. It can also convert to the WMA 9 voice output. I tried this with several files and while they were reduced to 16-18MB files and the voice quality was still perfectly acceptable, WMP9 on the Pocket PC couldn't play the file if you manually moved the slider, something you are going to do a lot with long files you may play in a few sittings. I don't know if this is a Pocket PC Windows Media problem or a problem with Total Recorder's output, so I've been leaving it at the 64kpbs WMA output.
It also will record from the mic, line in, CD's and DVD's. It supports the WMA 9 lossless codec as well for perfect quality as well as Ogg Vorbis. All formats have a number of settings you can tweak to get a balance of size and quality.
The Standard Edition is $11.95. The Professional Edition, which adds basic sound editing capabilities, scheduled broadcast captures and a few other goodies is $35.95. There is also a $99.95 Developer Edition. It works on just about all versions of Windows. The install puts a fake sound driver in that intercepts your sound before passing it on to the speakers and it always disables your Windows sounds so your recording isn't interrupted by beeps and whirs you have assigned to system events. I've been using it for a few months and have never had a problem. This is another one of those apps that really enhances the usefulness of your Pocket PC.
