converting WMA to flac/wv/shn

[shantiq]

i have a whole bunch of wma files i want to convert to a more liked format like wv flac or shn

shntool does not seem to want to do that

soundconverter and soundkonverter both refuse too



any ideas? my wma format is wma1 or wmal cannot tell if is is 1 the number or l the letter L


if you cannot be bothered to read the whole post a summary of info found goes like this simple solution 1. they play in xine straight off xine is in your synaptic


2. to convert quickly install dBpoweramp under wine again quick and no fuss[

[cascade9]

All the tools refused to run? You probably dont have the w32codecs installed (w64codecs on 64bit).

If they are wmal (L) then they are wma 'lossless' so converting to flac isnt evil (like it would be to convert lossy wma to lossless codecs). Still, if you have the CD, it would be better to just rerip- wma lossless has issues.

.flac is probably your best bet, .wv isnt bad but I'd rather have flac for a lot of reasons. Dont use .shn, its totally overpowered by the newer lossless codecs in every regard.

[shantiq]

All the tools refused to run? You probably dont have the w32codecs installed (w64codecs on 64bit).

If they are wmal (L) then they are wma 'lossless' so converting to flac isnt evil (like it would be to convert lossy wma to lossless codecs). Still, if you have the CD, it would be better to just rerip- wma lossless has issues.

.flac is probably your best bet, .wv isnt bad but I'd rather have flac for a lot of reasons. Dont use .shn, its totally overpowered by the newer lossless codecs in every regard.

i have the w32 installed not sure what it is


thanx for clearing the L thing i shall look around for that


man i am a big shorten fan it is the clearest of all the formats to my ear

[shantiq]

ok not a perfect ubuntu solution but since i now know it is wma lossless(thank you cascade9)i browsed the net and lo and behold there is a way that works


installing dbpoweramp under wine and installing the wma plugin then you can convert your files here is the howto i found

only had to use the second part Install dBpoweramp Music Converter




OF COURSE if anyone has a linux/ubuntu only solution i will gladly follow that

[mc4man]

OF COURSE if anyone has a linux/ubuntu only solution

It's probable that dbpoweramp offers most 'complete' solution, if tags matter. (been a while since I used it, forget if it transfers wmal tags), and is easier to use

Anyway...

If a same name batch convert in linux (no tags) then atm only mplayer with 32 bit codecs will do
mplayer to .wav - then .wav to whatever

Basic batch command to .wav
At dir. prompt where wma's are, (- beware of characters in name that may hang decoding/encoding - one that will is a "," (comma), remove any from track names

for f in *.wma;  do mplayer "$f" -vo null -vc null -ao pcm:waveheader:fast:file="${f%.wma}.wav"; done

You could also pipe from mplayer to whatever, one way is with named pipes

Ex. of batch named pipes wmal to flac, same name, spaces don't matter, some characters may, most don't

Open 2 terminals at dir. prompt where wma's are (typically an album

In first terminal

mkdir tmp && for f in *.wma; do mkfifo ./tmp/"$f"; done && for f in ./tmp/*.wma; do flac "${f%.wma}.wma"; done

press enter, cursur will be blinking

Then in 2nd term.

for f in *.wma;  do mplayer "$f" -vo null -vc null -ao pcm:waveheader:fast:file=./tmp/"${f%.wma}.wma"; done

After done in either terminal to remove pipe files

cd ./tmp && rm *.wma

[cascade9]

@ mc4man- dbpower amp should be any better than foobar. IIRC foobar doesnt need a plugin to play/convert wma-lossless either.

Also, I've seen threads here about how wma-lossless wotn play even with w32codecs installed. If thats the case (which it could very well be) then that is why soundconverter wouldnt work with wma-lossless. I dont know if mplayer will play the files, if it does then that method should work...i..f not, then its possible that VLC would, but I have no idea. I dont have a single wma file to test with, let alone a wma-lossless.

i have the w32 installed not sure what it is

Its a package that lets you play .wma, .wmv, .rm (and probably other codecs I've forgotten about).

thanx for clearing the L thing i shall look around for that

Better to look for .flac, .wv, they are better cdoecs with none of the problems of wma-lossless.

man i am a big shorten fan it is the clearest of all the formats to my ear

That is probably more to do with the decoder than anything else. All the lossless formats should sound the same (in theory).

[mc4man]

Also, I've seen threads here about how wma-lossless wotn play even with w32codecs installed. If thats the case (which it could very well be) then that is why soundconverter wouldnt work with wma-lossless.

It's not enough to just have 32codecs installed - the app must also support decoding thru dmo, at present no gstreamer app does.

A 32 bit mplayer, vlc built w/ dmo enabled, and most xine based players can decode wmal

(here on lucid I get wmal decoding thru mplayer, vlc, and totem-xine


Edit:
the latest foobar2000 requires the presence of windows media runtime libraries in system32 to decode wmal
(have it here

[cascade9]

It's not enough to just have 32codecs installed - the app must also support decoding thru dmo, at present no gstreamer app does.

A 32 bit mplayer, vlc built w/ dmo enabled, and most xine based players can decode wmal

(here on lucid I get wmal decoding thru mplayer, vlc, and totem-xine

Ahh, so thats the reason why gstreamer programs wont work with wma-lossless,a dn why mplayer will (well, people say it will, I dotn have any wma files at all anymore). Thanks for the info

Edit:
the latest foobar2000 requires the presence of windows media runtime libraries in system32 to decode wmal
(have it here

It does? *blinks* I cant be sure if the earlier versions needed that or not, no wma here. I'm still stuck on 0.9.5.5 since the later versions dont support SCP (single column playlist).

[mc4man]

It does?

I think so... actually to test something ( drop in desktop/panel launchers), I ended up with both 0.8.3 and 1.0.3 both being installed.
The 0.8.3 has a plugin,(foo.wma.dll), the 1.0.3 doesn't, I don't believe either played wmal until adding the runtime files. (though don't exactly remember

You can always get a sample for testing here (many others also

http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/lossless/

[cascade9]

I think so... actually to test something ( drop in desktop/panel launchers), I ended up with both 0.8.3 and 1.0.3 both being installed.
The 0.8.3 has a plugin,(foo.wma.dll), the 1.0.3 doesn't, I don't believe either played wmal until adding the runtime files. (though don't exactly remember

You can always get a sample for testing here (many others also

http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/A-codecs/lossless/

Really streching my memory, but 0.8.3 and earlier versions needed the foo_wma plugin, 0.9 versions dont. I know I did have some .wma files for a while when I was using 0.9, and I never d/led a plugin (and had WMP totally removed as well). Well, I think I didnt d/l a plugin, and there isnt one in my 'folder of foobits'

IIRC, the 0.8.3 and earler versions had the .ape decoder as standard, but it was discontinued with 0.9, and wma support was added. (out of the box, you can play almost anythign with plugins).

Thanks for the link, I might have to grab a .wma lossless file just for testing reasons. Gawds only know I wont be ripping one, WMP makes me sick