BarnacleBill
New member
For some time I've wanted to be able to post an audio file to the forum, and also thought it might help others to be able to do so when they have questions. Many times when someone tries to describe a sound that they are hearing, it's difficult to interpret that sound.
Everyone's computer skills are at different levels, so this is an attempt to explain a process that can be used to create and post audio files. A few things should be kept in mind:
1. You still can't exceed the file size limitation for posting pictures on Findmall, therefore make sure that your original MP3 file is a little bit below the limit. And I am going to provide a very small GIF file that you can download & use to make the combined MP3 audio file with. This will allow the MP3 file to almost be as big as the Findmall picture limit allows.
2. MP3 files are created at different data rates and they can be re-sampled downward to reduce the size(&quality) if you have the software & skills to do so. I am not going to cover that in this post. But to give an idea of data rate versus size here are the figures for the file I uploaded. Mono, 44kHz, & 192kps, 10 seconds long and had a file size of 245kb. That is about 60% of the file size limit of photos for Findmall. Audacity can be used to edit/shorten/process MP3 files so that they can be uploaded, it's a Great! program.
Here's what will be covered:
1. How to create a folder to put your files and work with them.
2. How to create a Batch File which has a file extension of "bat". Some examples: acorn.bat, makepix.bat, cool.bat........A Batch file is a file that can contain Dos/Windows commands like "Copy" or "Sort" etc......or other files which it will cause to execute. It is basically a file containing a list of tasks to be performed. And the young'uns think Al Gore invented Scripting!
3. How to cause this Batch file to run/execute and what the result will be.
First up is how to create a working folder in Windoze, if you already know how to do this skip the following graphic.
[attachment 120881 HowNewCreateP.png]
Next how to create the combined MP3 & GIF file in your working directory.
In the example below I will be working with:
1. trash.mp3 which is the MP3 file.
2. Sound.gif which is the GIF picture file.
3. combined.gif which is the combination of the two files above and can be posted.
4. MakeCombo.bat which is the Batch file that is to be created to process the MP3 & GIF files.
Here is the Sound.gif file which you can download to use:
[attachment 120879 Sound.gif]
Here is the text between the asterisks that you can copy & paste to create the Batch file.
******************************************************************
copy Sound.gif /b + trash.mp3 /b combined.gif
******************************************************************
Notice the names of the files that are being worked with in the above script; Sound.gif & trash.mp3...
those file names can be modified but you must not change anything else. i.e. trash.mp3 could be whitesxlt.mp3 which would be a recording of your White's XLT.
Now the steps:
1. You have a working folder created.
2. Copy the MP3 file into that folder.
3. Copy the GIF file into that folder.
4. Create a New Text file in that folder. NOT a Word Doc file or a Wordpad Doc file. Notepad is what must be used as it creates a plain Text File!
5. Copy & paste the Script I included above into that Text file. Change the names of the MP3 or GIF file if you need to. LEAVE THE REST OF THE TEXT IN THE FILE ALONE, DO NOT CHANGE.
6. You are then going to do a "Save As" to save the Text file as a Batch file with a name you choose. I used MakeCombo.bat as an example.
7. The NewTextFile can then be deleted once the Batch file is created.
8. Then you are going to double mouse click on the Batch file to cause it to execute.
9. In a moment a new file will appear called combined.gif.
10. Now combined.gif can be posted as a picture on Findmall.
11. The process of explaining how to do this is a lot more intensive than actually doing it. Once you've done it a couple of times it becomes dead simple and quick, not like this long winding road I've created. Phew!
Here's a graphic of the process:
[attachment 120880 CreateComboP.png]
To play back this file:
1. It will NOT play back in Windows Media Player! It displays the GIF coil picture and stops.
2. It should be played back with Audio ONLY players, or media players with Video/Media playback disabled.
3. I have tested it with Audacity(a Great! free program) & Winamp. When I installed Winamp I disabled video capability. (Download.com has the free players)
4. DO NOT download the thumbnail jpg(jpeg) picture in a post. Click on the thumbnail to open(enlarge) the picture file. Right click your mouse and "Save As" FileName.gif to a folder on your computer.
5. Open the file with a program like Winamp or Audacity, they simply ignore the picture data, recognize the MP3 data, and off you go.
6. For the more technically advanced you can "Save As" or Rename the file with an extension of MP3 and it will play in Windows Media Player.
This little tutorial may need some serious clarification, so please feel free to make reasonable suggestions.
HH
BarnacleBill
Everyone's computer skills are at different levels, so this is an attempt to explain a process that can be used to create and post audio files. A few things should be kept in mind:
1. You still can't exceed the file size limitation for posting pictures on Findmall, therefore make sure that your original MP3 file is a little bit below the limit. And I am going to provide a very small GIF file that you can download & use to make the combined MP3 audio file with. This will allow the MP3 file to almost be as big as the Findmall picture limit allows.
2. MP3 files are created at different data rates and they can be re-sampled downward to reduce the size(&quality) if you have the software & skills to do so. I am not going to cover that in this post. But to give an idea of data rate versus size here are the figures for the file I uploaded. Mono, 44kHz, & 192kps, 10 seconds long and had a file size of 245kb. That is about 60% of the file size limit of photos for Findmall. Audacity can be used to edit/shorten/process MP3 files so that they can be uploaded, it's a Great! program.
Here's what will be covered:
1. How to create a folder to put your files and work with them.
2. How to create a Batch File which has a file extension of "bat". Some examples: acorn.bat, makepix.bat, cool.bat........A Batch file is a file that can contain Dos/Windows commands like "Copy" or "Sort" etc......or other files which it will cause to execute. It is basically a file containing a list of tasks to be performed. And the young'uns think Al Gore invented Scripting!
3. How to cause this Batch file to run/execute and what the result will be.
First up is how to create a working folder in Windoze, if you already know how to do this skip the following graphic.
[attachment 120881 HowNewCreateP.png]
Next how to create the combined MP3 & GIF file in your working directory.
In the example below I will be working with:
1. trash.mp3 which is the MP3 file.
2. Sound.gif which is the GIF picture file.
3. combined.gif which is the combination of the two files above and can be posted.
4. MakeCombo.bat which is the Batch file that is to be created to process the MP3 & GIF files.
Here is the Sound.gif file which you can download to use:
[attachment 120879 Sound.gif]
Here is the text between the asterisks that you can copy & paste to create the Batch file.
******************************************************************
copy Sound.gif /b + trash.mp3 /b combined.gif
******************************************************************
Notice the names of the files that are being worked with in the above script; Sound.gif & trash.mp3...
those file names can be modified but you must not change anything else. i.e. trash.mp3 could be whitesxlt.mp3 which would be a recording of your White's XLT.
Now the steps:
1. You have a working folder created.
2. Copy the MP3 file into that folder.
3. Copy the GIF file into that folder.
4. Create a New Text file in that folder. NOT a Word Doc file or a Wordpad Doc file. Notepad is what must be used as it creates a plain Text File!
5. Copy & paste the Script I included above into that Text file. Change the names of the MP3 or GIF file if you need to. LEAVE THE REST OF THE TEXT IN THE FILE ALONE, DO NOT CHANGE.
6. You are then going to do a "Save As" to save the Text file as a Batch file with a name you choose. I used MakeCombo.bat as an example.
7. The NewTextFile can then be deleted once the Batch file is created.
8. Then you are going to double mouse click on the Batch file to cause it to execute.
9. In a moment a new file will appear called combined.gif.
10. Now combined.gif can be posted as a picture on Findmall.
11. The process of explaining how to do this is a lot more intensive than actually doing it. Once you've done it a couple of times it becomes dead simple and quick, not like this long winding road I've created. Phew!
Here's a graphic of the process:
[attachment 120880 CreateComboP.png]
To play back this file:
1. It will NOT play back in Windows Media Player! It displays the GIF coil picture and stops.
2. It should be played back with Audio ONLY players, or media players with Video/Media playback disabled.
3. I have tested it with Audacity(a Great! free program) & Winamp. When I installed Winamp I disabled video capability. (Download.com has the free players)
4. DO NOT download the thumbnail jpg(jpeg) picture in a post. Click on the thumbnail to open(enlarge) the picture file. Right click your mouse and "Save As" FileName.gif to a folder on your computer.
5. Open the file with a program like Winamp or Audacity, they simply ignore the picture data, recognize the MP3 data, and off you go.
6. For the more technically advanced you can "Save As" or Rename the file with an extension of MP3 and it will play in Windows Media Player.
This little tutorial may need some serious clarification, so please feel free to make reasonable suggestions.
HH
BarnacleBill