HOWTO: convert wma to mp3

[mtron]

This small script is for former Windows useres, who want to convert their not DRM "protected" wma's to mp3s.

Why?
- some portable music players don't support it
- it's micro$oft. isn't that enough ?

Requirements:
mplayer ,win32 codecs and lame


but remember: every de- and recoding usually results in a loss of quality, so if you have the original CD,
rip it again, and do not recode the wma's to mp3's.

Open a Terminal

Type:

cd ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts

Type:

gedit convert\ wma\ to\ mp3

# Paste the following code into the file:

#! /bin/sh
# wma to mp3 script by mtron
zenity --info \
        --text="this script converts all wma files in the current folder
to mp3s and puts them in the folder output 

all lame command line options can be set in the next step. 

usage:
	lame -m s: for stereo mp3 output
	lame -m s V 3-4-5: for stereo mp3 output with VBR"

# Dialog box to choose output quality
FORMAT=`zenity --list --title="Choose mp3 output quality" --radiolist --column="Check" --column="Quality (editable)" --editable "" "lame -m s" "" "lame -m s -V 3" "" "lame -m s -V 4" "" "lame -m s -V 5"`

if [ $FORMAT -eq ""]; then    
zenity --error --text="mp3 output quality not defined or no wma file found

usage:
	lame -m s: for stereo mp3 output
	lame -m s V 3-4-5: for stereo mp3 output with VBR 
 
type: lame --longhelp 
for all command line options "
exit 1
fi

mkdir -p output
cp *.wma output
cd output

# How many files to make the progress bar
PROGRESS=0
NUMBER_OF_FILES=`find -iname "*.wma"`
let "INCREMENT=100/$NUMBER_OF_FILES"

#remove spaces
(for i in *.wma; do mv "$i" `echo $i | tr ' ' '_'`; done

#remove uppercase
for i in *.[Ww][Mm][Aa]; do mv "$i" `echo $i | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`; done

#Rip with Mplayer / encode with LAME
for i in *.wma ; do 
echo "$PROGRESS";
echo "# Re-Coding $i";
mplayer -vo null -vc dummy -af resample=44100 -ao pcm:waveheader $i && $FORMAT audiodump.wav -o $i;
let "PROGRESS+=$INCREMENT"
done

#convert file names
for i in *.wma; do mv "$i" "`basename "$i" .wma`.mp3"; 
done

rm audiodump.wav
let "PROGRESS+=$INCREMENT"
) | zenity  --progress --title "$Recoding...encoding..." --percentage=0

Save the file, and quit gedit.
Back in the terminal type:

chmod +x convert\ wma\ to\ mp3

navigate in nautilus to the folder containing the wma's, right click, choose "scripts" and "convert wma to mp3"
it takes ca. 3 min for one wma. This script will not delete your wma's. all mp3 will be put to the new created folder output. (check that your user has write support in the directory!)

you can set the lame encoder settings in the zenity dialog box. all lame switches are supported, like

lame -m s: for stereo mp3 output
lame -m s V 3-4-5: for stereo mp3 output with VBR"


Credits: to c m

Have fun!

[bored2k]

Cute.
What about ape to mp3 or mpc ?

[Gouchi]

Maybe some tools in here :

http://rarewares.org/debian.html

sure for mpc and mp3 but Monkey Audio ?

[mtron]

i'm sorry, i don't have one single ape file...

but when mplayer is able to play it, the script needs onlya small modification. the same for ogg,

Perhaps i will make a version to choose the input - and output format.
for wma, mp3 and ogg it should not be a big problem, but i need to figure out how to use the zenity radiobox input further in the script. Not only the $FOMAT variable.

when you set the
FORMAT=... "mp3" "" "ogg" "" "ape"

you can't use it later wit the switches
if [ $FORMAT -eq "mp3"]; then
or
if [ $FORMAT -eq "ogg"]; then

or at least i could not. Someone an idea how to do this?

[Lovechild]

If there's support for wma in gstreamer I would like to add that the following converts wma to ogg vorbis:

gst-launch-0.8 filesrc location=path-to-file/name-of-file.wma ! spider ! vorbisenc ! filesink location=path-to-file/name-of-destination-file.ogg

for mp3 conversion replace vorbisenc with lame bitrate=128 and of course change postfix to mp3.

[Steve Kinney]

How to convert ape to mp3? Off topic for the thread, but a searching for it landed me here, so here 'tis: I ran into that .ape problem last night, and this brute force method worked out OK:

Go to www.monkeysaudio.com and download the author's Win32 binary tool for converting into and out of .ape format. (Gratis but not free, hence the lack of a Linux package.) Drop the installer in some convenient location, and run it with "WINE Windows emulator". This will install the software into a hidden directory tree in your /home/[user] that spoofs a standard Windows file system.

If your shell command options don't include WINE and Wine Windows Emulator, you may have to install these as well. No sweat, just use Synaptic or your favorite package manager.

Once Monkey Audio is installed, fire up your favorite file navigator, set it to show hidden files, and navigate to the ".wine/drive c/program files/Monkey's Audio/" directory, where you will find "Monkey's Audio.exe" Open up the app and ... just do it.

I also installed soundKonverter so I could take the .wav files Monkey handed me and conveniently batch convert them to MP3. (You will also need LAME if it is not already installed.) It's native to KDE but works fine under Gnome, at least on my system.

[theadventuresofanidealist]

i did all you asked but it doesnt work for me.
it says converting but then the folder output is empty.
is there something relating to it i need to install?

[exactt]

the trick is to use the script INSIDE the folder. I first also tried to do things on the top folder...

but it would be a nice feature...

[danderson3]

pacpl does all of this and more. a new version was
just released. see http://viiron.googlepages.com/home

-David

Perl Audio Converter (PAC) is a tool for converting multiple audio
types from one format to another. It supports MP2, MP3, Ogg Vorbis,
FLAC, Shorten, Monkey Audio, FAAC (AAC/M4A/MP4), Musepack (MPC),
Wavpack (WV), OptimFrog (OFR/OFS), TTA, LPAC, Kexis (KXS), AIFF, AC3,
Lossless Audio (LA), BONK, AU, SND, RAW, VOC, SMP, RealAudio (RA/RAM),
WAV, and WMA. It can also convert audio from the following video
formats/extensions: RM, RV, ASF, DivX, MPG, MKV, MPEG, AVI, MOV, OGM,
QT, VCD, VOB, and WMV. A CD ripping function with CDDB support, batch
and playlist conversion, tag preservation for most supported formats,
independent tag reading/writing, and extensions for Konqueror and
amaroK are also provided.

[exactt]

there is a bug in the script:

mplayer -vo null -vc dummy -af resample=44100 -ao pcm -waveheader $i && $FORMAT audiodump.wav -o $i;

needs to get

mplayer -vo null -vc dummy -af resample=44100 -ao pcm:waveheader $i && $FORMAT audiodump.wav -o $i;

...at least on dapper with the latest updates installed. otherwise the files just get renamed.