Need software to convert WMA to MP3 files

I need windows software to convert WMA to MP3 files.  Needs to keep
track/naming info.  Also need to work in batch mode (to do a
folderfull at once) and be very easy to use.  No command line stuff.


thanx in advnce

sherpaj-ga:

The features you have described appear to come straight off of the
feature list for the following software application:

Active WMA Studio - WMA to MP3, WAV, OGG Converter and CD Ripping Utility
http://www.shelltoys.com/wma_studio/

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description from website:

"Active WMA Studio is the audio conversion utility with Explorer-like
interface, It allows you to encode WAV, MP3 and OGG files to WMA
(Windows Media Audio) format with a lot of format options(from 8000 to
48000Hz, up to 192kbps), convert WMA and MP3 files to WAV PCM format,
convert WMA to MP3 files format with LAME 3.92 encoder library,
convert WMA to OGG Vorbis format, resample WMA files, grab audio CDs
into WMA.

You can convert and encode audio files one by one, also you can use
built-in batch queue to increase perfomance in case of mass
encoding/decoding. Active WMA Studio allows you to edit ID3v2 Tags,
copy it from MP3 to WMA and from WMA to MP3 file while recoding."

--------------------

I just downloaded and tried out their 14-day trial version, it works
very well. The registered version costs a reasonble US$24.95,
purchasable online through their website.

I suggest you download and try out this program for a couple of weeks
to see if it is right for you. Please note that in order to retain
IDv3 tag information when converting from MP3 to WMA, you need to
adjust the default configuration. IDv3 info is automatically carried
over from WMAs to MP3s during conversion. To get the most out of this
program, you should make sure that you have the latest version of
Windows Media Player installed first.

The part I like the most about this program is the graphical user
interface and the ease of queuing up a batch of files to process. I
hope you like it too!

Another program which sells for the same price, but in my opinion is
not as user-friendly, is:

Litex Media Audio Conversion Wizard 1.65
http://www.litexmedia.com/audio_wizard/



Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher



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Request for Answer Clarification by sherpaj-ga on 29 Mar 2004 23:47 PST

I tried the Active WMA Studio.  2 problems.  1-It crashes alot in Win
XP.  #2 - It doesn't copy the folder and sub folders.  You have to
manualy recreate the struture.  it only does files.  Any ideas?

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Clarification of Answer by aht-ga on 30 Mar 2004 00:05 PST

sherpaj:

Can you double-check that you are using the same version of Active WMA
Studio that I pointed to? The version I am trialing, version 1.2,
allows you to select entire folders and their subfolders, by
right-clicking on the folder-name in the right-hand pane and selecting
"Add to Batch Queue Processing". Please note that the trial version
only allows you to batch queue up to 5 files, whereas the retail
version is supposed to be unlimited.

As well, prior to posting the Answer, and subsequent to posting it,
I've been playing with the trial version in Windows XP Pro SP1 with no
stability problems at all. I have a very extensive library of MP3s,
I've been converting some of it to WMA to be able to compare the
quality versus disk space. I've also been reversing the conversion
(ie. WMA>MP3) to see if there is any noticable conversion loss, again
without any problems. Are you using the same trial version that I am?

Another thought: is your Windows XP installation current, ie. SP1?
Also, have you previously downloaded and installed the Windows Media
Encoder 9package from Microsoft?:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx

Please confirm that you are using Active WMA Studio v1.2, and let me
know if the stability problem persists.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by sherpaj-ga on 01 Apr 2004 21:08 PST

The problem is that it doesn't maintain the folder structure when it
converts them, it just dump all the files from all the folders into
one desination folder.

I am using ver 1.2.

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Clarification of Answer by aht-ga on 02 Apr 2004 10:23 PST

I don't want to give the impression that I'm focusing solely on this
one program, it's just that it's worked so well for me that I want to
make sure it isn't simply a simple configuration difference causing
your problems.

Can you please check on the Settings>General tab, to see if you have a
'default' output folder set up? If so, uncheck the box. I do not have
a default output folder set up on my copy of the program, and all
output files go back into the same folders as the input files came
from, thus retaining the directory structure. You can then use Windows
Explorer to copy entire sections of the folder structure over to a
different location if you wish, and select the copied WMA files for
deletion to leave just the MP3 files.

As for the stability issues, can you describe the crashes a bit more?

Thanks,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher