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  #1  
03-08-2006, 10:10 PM
black prince black prince is offline
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@anyone,

My local library has AudioBooks free for download, provided you have a
library card. There are some 447 book titles of various categories and the
list is growning (science fiction, fiction, self improvement, etc.) The
downloaded AudioBooks are in wma format and your allowed to burn one
copy for personal use. Each file will fit on one CD and many books have
6 to 12 files. I want to convert wma to mp3 to fit more files on one CD.
Are there free programs that can convert wma to mp3 to get more on one
CD

-BP
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  #2  
03-09-2006, 12:01 AM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by black prince
Are there free programs that can convert wma to mp3 to get more on one
CD
You bet
"The Winamp Transcoder "
http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=146195

Edit: That's exactly what I'm using to encode my .FLAC files to aacPlus, as I write this
Consider converting to aacPlus, and you'll see how much you can fit on a CD

-kwag
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  #3  
03-09-2006, 06:35 AM
GFR GFR is offline
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You can also use foobar for that (wma -> mp3).

CoolEdit/Audition works too, but it´s not free.
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  #4  
03-09-2006, 06:38 AM
Dialhot Dialhot is offline
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Excuse me but if the WMA file includes some DRM locks, then no tool will be abble to convert it. Not saying that this is considered as piracy in many countries.
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  #5  
03-09-2006, 07:51 AM
black prince black prince is offline
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@everyone,

Quote:
Excuse me but if the WMA file includes some DRM locks, then no tool will be able to convert it. Not saying that this is considered as piracy in many countries.
_________________
Phil
Phil's right. I checked with the library and I'm allowed to burn WMA to CD,
but not convert to any other format which could remove DRM
Thanks for all the suggestions

-BP
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  #6  
03-09-2006, 12:04 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by black prince
Phil's right. I checked with the library and I'm allowed to burn WMA to CD,
but not convert to any other format which could remove DRM
Then burn it to a CD-RW, and rip it to MP3
For sure DRM will be gone, right

-kwag
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  #7  
03-09-2006, 12:16 PM
Dialhot Dialhot is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kwag
Then burn it to a CD-RW, and rip it to MP3
When he tells "burn to CD" he means that the WMA can be burnt on a data CD, not that it can be turned into a CD-Audio. Else of course, the DRM would gone away.

Edit: last winamp can playback DRMed WMA into wav. But this is still piracy so I prefer to stop.

Quote:
- New: DRM WMA Playback supports out_wave
- New: Non-DRM WMA Playback allows any output plugin
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  #8  
03-09-2006, 08:05 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Well, then get some good and thick (short) audio cables with gold connectors and ferrite beads at each end, add a good analog filter software, and capture the audio with the sound card.
I did that some time ago with my 4DTV satellite receiver, capturing audio stations directly to WAV, and then I encoded the audio to MP3.
The captured WAV file is so damn clean that you can't tell the difference from an original audio CD
The signal to noise ratio is very high, and the noise floor is inaudiable to the human ear, but filtering it is even better (just like we do for video) before encoding it.

-kwag
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  #9  
03-09-2006, 10:49 PM
black prince black prince is offline
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@Kwag and Phil,

http://www.overdrive.com/

OverDrive is the company the free library uses to download, playback,
and transfer their audiobook files. This software allows for transfer
and/or CD burning. I tried burning the files via OverDrive to CD using
Nero Fast CD burning plugin in WMP and when played back it won't play,
even with OverDrive. Each audiobook file is created to fit one 700MB CD,
so if a audiobook has 12 files this means 12 CD's. The library agreement
allows for a personal copy. Duplication for sale or give away is
forbidden. I want to put all 12 files on one CD for casual audiobook
listening. To do this the format must be changed to fit on one CD.
I spoke with the library again today and they said that OverDrive's using
DRM on all files, even those that your allowed to copy. Some audiobooks
are not allowed to be copied and some are, but DRM is used on all.
They suggested I contact OverDrive to suggest how to remove DRM for
titles free to copy for personal use. So, as far as the library is concerned
a personal copy using another format is OK I have found a method
which converts WMA:

First off, you need to download a few free programs:
1) Windows Media Player
2) Nero Fast Burning CD Plugin http://www.wmplugins.com
3) CDmage http://www.geocities.com/cdmage/
4) Power MP3 WMA converter program http://www.cooolsoft.com

Once these are downloaded and installed,

a) Open your wma audio with Windows Media Player
b) Choose to copy file to CD.
c) Then, using the Nero plugin, burn to a image recorder file
d) Open the CDmage (.nrg file) in CDmage, and extract the tracks as a Wave file
e) Then it's a simple matter of converting the Wave files to mp3
or your preferred format using your chosen converter.

This method will give you the highest possible quality through the
conversion.

-BP
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  #10  
03-09-2006, 11:04 PM
kwag kwag is offline
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Great BP
You might want to check my post about converting to aacPlus, as you can get CD quality audio at only 48Kbps, so you can even fit more on a single CD-R
So substitute the "converting the Wave files to mp3 " step by encoding wave to AAC+

-kwag
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  #11  
03-10-2006, 01:20 AM
black prince black prince is offline
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@Kwag,

Kwag wrote:
Quote:
Great BP
You might want to check my post about converting to aacPlus, as you can get CD quality audio at only 48Kbps, so you can even fit more on a single CD-R Smile
So substitute the "converting the Wave files to mp3 " step by encoding wave to AAC+

-kwag
Thanks Kwag, I'm already looking at accPlus now.

-BP
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  #12  
03-10-2006, 04:59 AM
Dialhot Dialhot is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kwag
Well, then get some good and thick (short) audio cables with gold connectors and ferrite beads at each end, add a good analog filter software, and capture the audio with the sound card.
I never tried it but theorically, the out_wav plugin in winamp directly output what you are listening (with winamp) to a wav file. No cables, no filter, no capture .

The only drawback is that the ripp is done at 1x.
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  #13  
03-10-2006, 06:41 AM
GFR GFR is offline
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The out_wav in Winamp is faster than 1x.

There are many, simple, ways to generate a DRM free file from a wma if you already the license.

BUT, as Phil pointed earlier, in some countries (Germany for instance?), removing the copy protection is illegal. Even if you own the file and want to make a backup for your personal use only - no matter if that's unfair or not. For example, DVDDecrypt was forced to be discontinued because it could remove CSS.

So I think kwag shouls evaluate if this thread is OK.

IF you're sure it's not illegal in your country try this:

http://apache.dataloss.nl/~fred/beale-screamer/

It will remove the DRM IF you have the license.
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  #14  
03-10-2006, 10:16 AM
kwag kwag is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GFR
So I think kwag shouls evaluate if this thread is OK.

IF you're sure it's not illegal in your country try this:

http://apache.dataloss.nl/~fred/beale-screamer/

It will remove the DRM IF you have the license.
Hi GFR,

Well, there's no DRM on a audio output jack
So it's fine to take your audio and record it out of an analog line, or as you guys said, straight out of the audio WAV out of the card.
And also there's still a gray area between DRM and Fair Use, so I will say that just as we do with our DVDs, that I WILL back up my DVDs, Music, or whatever I buy for my personal use, and I won't care if it's protected or not
So this thread is fine and any other thread that talks about "personal" backups is also fine.
And thanks for that link GFR

-kwag
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  #15  
03-10-2006, 01:43 PM
GFR GFR is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kwag
Hi GFR,

Well, there's no DRM on a audio output jack
So it's fine to take your audio and record it out of an analog line, or as you guys said, straight out of the audio WAV out of the card.
OK there's no DRM on analog audio (yet - "they" are eager to close "the analog plug" - look at monstruosities like VEIL).
And the defenders of DRM can argue that you're "circumventing the copy protection" by doing so.

Quote:
And also there's still a gray area between DRM and Fair Use, so I will say that just as we do with our DVDs, that I WILL back up my DVDs, Music, or whatever I buy for my personal use, and I won't care if it's protected or not
So this thread is fine and any other thread that talks about "personal" backups is also fine.
I agree, and in fact we do talk about DVDDecryter, AnyDVD, DVDFab Decrypter, pgcEdit and the PLS plugin. This is similar.

But since this forum has readers from many countries I think it's nice to add a warning.
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