Author Topic: Real Producer Plus (Read 3906 times)

goodear · « **on:** July 30, 2008, 04:39:07 PM »

I have an MP3 file, about 5MB, and I want to convert it to RealAudio. The purpose is to put it onto my
website so music starts when you get to the website. I drag the MP3 onto Real Producer Plus, which won't accept it. It calls the
MP3 an unsupported audio format. But I have done it before, maybe the MP3 should be smaller. Anyone know how to do this?

Paddy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2008, 07:36:47 PM »

Um...word of advice. Don't have background music start when someone goes to your web site. I know it sounds like a good idea (you are, after all, a pianist...) but most of us find music we cannot control ourselves really, really annoying, no matter how beautiful it is. I generally leave sites that force me to listen to music. I sometimes have my own music playing on iTunes - sites that play music make a real cacophony on top of that! Much better to have files available that visitors can play IF they want to.

Background music often appears on lists of web design "don'ts" BTW - this isn't just my pet peeve.

So, leave it as an MP3 and provide a link to download and play it, would be my advice.

goodear · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2008, 08:10:28 PM »

QUOTE(Paddy @ Jul 30 2008, 07:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Um...word of advice. Don't have background music start when someone goes to your web site. I know it sounds like a good idea (you are, after all, a pianist...) but most of us find music we cannot control ourselves really, really annoying, no matter how beautiful it is. I generally leave sites that force me to listen to music. I sometimes have my own music playing on iTunes - sites that play music make a real cacophony on top of that! Much better to have files available that visitors can play IF they want to.

Background music often appears on lists of web design "don'ts" BTW - this isn't just my pet peeve.

So, leave it as an MP3 and provide a link to download and play it, would be my advice.

OK, your advice is heeded. But I prefer to put it on the website as RealAudio. Which brings me back to the original question - how do I convert a big MP3 to RealAudio using Real Prod. Plus?

sandbox · « **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2008, 09:13:35 PM »

goodear, this is the script for .mp3's

CODE

watch the eyes listen to the music http://www.2iview.com/

Paddy · « **Reply #4 on:** July 30, 2008, 10:36:40 PM »

RealProducer Plus for OS 9 seems to be no longer available from Real - couldn't find it anywhere on their web site, so it's a bit difficult to figure out what it promises to do and what might be wrong.

Just curious as to why you want to use Real Audio in particular? It's quality for music is generally considered to be poor.

sandbox · « **Reply #5 on:** July 31, 2008, 01:23:40 AM »

you could put a control panel in.

CODE

the /folder/ is the name of the folder you keep the audio file in
for example:

CODE

goodear · « **Reply #6 on:** July 31, 2008, 02:52:10 AM »

QUOTE(Paddy @ Jul 30 2008, 10:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

RealProducer Plus for OS 9 seems to be no longer available from Real - couldn't find it anywhere on their web site, so it's a bit difficult to figure out what it promises to do and what might be wrong.

>>I already have RealProducer Plus for OS 9. It's just a question of how to use it with large MP3 files. I can handle it with small files.

Just curious as to why you want to use Real Audio in particular? It's quality for music is generally considered to be poor.

Two reasons:
1. I believe that MP3 is easier for people to copy onto one's computer - people who ought not to be doing that - than RealAudio. I might be wrong here.
2. MP3s generally are larger files than RealAudio.

"It's quality for music is generally considered to be poor." I think this is questionable. Lower in quality than MP3? Probably yes. But "poor?"
All the sound files on my websites (ShadowHillsMusic.com and DavidRubinstein.net) are Real Audio. In the seven years of their existence I have never heard a criticism of the sound quality. If they are just "OK," why would that be a bad thing? I think there are situations where "just OK" is fine, and in others where it would clearly be detrimental.

Paddy · « **Reply #7 on:** July 31, 2008, 07:48:06 AM »

David, copying RealAudio tracks to one's computer is a simple matter of right-clicking on the file and saving it if it's not embedded. Same as an MP3. (And don't kid yourself - embedded tracks can be recorded too via various "rippers")

Yes, MP3 files are usually larger than RA files, but you should probably only offer short samples anyway, so this shouldn't be an issue.

RealAudio is streaming media, which starts playing as it downloads (which is nice) but those with slow internet connections can have difficulties with it stuttering and stopping because of the slow connection.

If you use the code Sandbox posted to provide the controls on the page (the ONLY acceptable way to provide streaming media in my book), change the autostart="true" to "false" unless you want to annoy your visitors as noted above.

Then there is the problem with the embed tag - it is NOT standards-compliant HTML and IE 7 no longer recognizes it. For that, you need the OBJECT tag, which is standards-compliant. See: http://joliclic.free.fr/html/object-tag/en...-audio.html#mid

My advice would be to use the code on that page for the MP3 track.

tacit · « **Reply #8 on:** July 31, 2008, 09:38:26 AM »

QUOTE(goodear @ Jul 31 2008, 01:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK, your advice is heeded. But I prefer to put it on the website as RealAudio. Which brings me back to the original question - how do I convert a big MP3 to RealAudio using Real Prod. Plus?

Is there a reason you want it to be RA? Why do you prefer RA over MP3?

Consider this:

Every computer on the market right now can play an MP3. That means every Mac, every Windows computer, every Linux computer--even Sun systems and HPUX systems and other obscure computers can play an MP3.

However, the majority of computers can not play RealAudio. Most computers do not ship from the factory able toplay RA sound files. I refuse to install the RealAudio player on my computers, because it has in the past crashed my machine.

According to the statistics at websiteoptimization.com, RealPlayer only has about a 33% market share. That means if you choose to use RealAudio for your Web site, you can expect that two-thirds of your visitors will not be able to play the music. If you choose MP3, 100% of your visitors will be able to play the music. Given that, why opt for RealAudio?

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #9 on:** August 01, 2008, 08:52:40 AM »

Another alternative that might satisfy your viewers and your desire to have the music begin upon loading the page:
Have a "Listings" page that, uhm, lists the music you have on the site. You could add information about the genre, 'mood', rhythm, accompaniment (if any), author, etc. Each would have a link to a 'music' page with only that one music file. That page could be set to play upon opening. You could then include more info, personal notes, feedback/comments, copyright info, etc. Maybe even an attractive image! Of course a link back to the listings page and the other 'music' pages should be on every music page, also. Once you build the first 'music' page, the rest could be pretty much the same, so they would be much quicker to create.

BTW, Paddy, thanks for the link to the 'object' tag use. I had tried, apparently not effectively enough, a long time ago, for a working, usable substitute for the deprecated 'embed' tag.

That markup is basically what I've been including in the xml file for iTunes!

News:

Author Topic: Real Producer Plus (Read 3906 times)