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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Wow! I forgot about ffmpeg. Got to find a windows build as I don’t want to build from scratch on my work computer, but I use it all the time in Linux for fun
to convert videos for my hubby, who tends to fill up our server’s hard drive! I need a better grasp in the obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> athen-list <athen-list-bounces@mailman12.u.washington.edu>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Joseph Polizzotto MA<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, April 20, 2020 11:54 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list@u.washington.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Athen] Seeking recommendations for M4A converter<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Debee,<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">If you don't mind working from the command line, you can also use
<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ffmpeg.org/__;!!A-B3JKCz!Smev1lclUsoqLGy5v45VlF0WiVF0cFRfvslsJ03qR57JSLy1QrDkBXMW7kKXfpH0xPXoZQ$">
FFmpeg</a>. You can type a command like the following in the terminal to get your desired file:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">ffmpeg -i input.m4a output.wav<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">You can also try converting directly to MP3 from M4A and see if the quality is still too poor for your needs. Here is a command that can do that;<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">ffmpeg -i input.m4a -acodec libmp3lame -ab 256k output.mp3<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">It is possible to write a short script that does this process in a loop for all of the files in a directory. <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I came across this article that touches on <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/datagubbe.se/decusab/__;!!A-B3JKCz!Smev1lclUsoqLGy5v45VlF0WiVF0cFRfvslsJ03qR57JSLy1QrDkBXMW7kKXfpHKsPMWeA$">
the decline of usability of many desktop applications</a>. I thought you could relate to a lot of what is said there. Those are also arguments in favor of using the command line! (BTW I am not referring to any desktop applications mentioned in this thread).<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">HTH,<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Joseph<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 7:43 AM Deborah Armstrong <<a href="mailto:armstrongdeborah@fhda.edu">armstrongdeborah@fhda.edu</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Now that we have so many webinars/courses in zoom, I’m seeking a simple converter for Windows that will create .wav files from .M4A. The editor I prefer to use likes wav files or
Mp3, but if you convert to mp3 you reduce the audio quality just a bit, so I’d prefer to convert to wav, edit it and then convert to Mp3.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">When I record lectures, my main tool for note-taking is to edit the recording about 75% so I have only a short audio file to retain.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">This is also useful when I’m working on a recording someone else made.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">--Debee<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">_______________________________________________<br>
athen-list mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:athen-list@mailman12.u.washington.edu" target="_blank">athen-list@mailman12.u.washington.edu</a><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;letter-spacing:.15pt">Alternate Media Supervisor</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">University of California, Berkeley</span><span style="font-family:"-webkit-standard",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fdsp.berkeley.edu*2F&data=02*7C01*7C*7C4e0abffcb5b34567a22308d5e13137b3*7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa*7C1*7C0*7C636662523854357148&sdata=yB5*2BUm2W6TBwpc*2BOF4DvN8wPoo1dozUwz8eCepYhTyY*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!A-B3JKCz!Smev1lclUsoqLGy5v45VlF0WiVF0cFRfvslsJ03qR57JSLy1QrDkBXMW7kKXfpGqwvEElg$" target="_blank">https://dsp.berkeley.edu/</a></span><span style="font-family:"-webkit-standard",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">(510) 642-0329</span><span style="font-family:"-webkit-standard",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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