Quick question,
Is their a program or a way to convert .aiff files to .wav? any help would be greatly appreciated!
Is their a program or a way to convert .aiff files to .wav? any help would be greatly appreciated!
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aiff to wav?
- Thread starter RandomDeadHead
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Yup, iTunes. Just go to your import preference and select the wav format. No go to the File menu and select import and find the file you want to import. That easy.
May I ask why you need to convert the file? You should be able to play .wav's on your computer. I know I was quite suprised when I discovered this.
Most any program that can edit or resave sound files should be able to convert .AIFF to .WAV.
Now for the why (at least my guess):
Neither format is better than the other, but .WAV files can be more easily read. Both are lossless, if you dont include the header and footer information.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Yo Jo!
Post Script: As to the .RAW reference. I am so old school I remember when this wasn't just a bitmap specific file format. Before the proliferation of windows, file extnesions were a little more free form. A .RAW sound file was just that, the raw information with out and headers and footers. Not much diffrent than the .RAW for graphics, which spawns as a bitmap.
Now for the why (at least my guess):
.AIFF/.AIF files contain additional information in the head and foot of the file (Apple specific information), which can confuse some editing/playing programs. The worst case would be if the program dynamically opened the .AIFF, read the head as audio data, which would cause the entire file to look/sound like white noise, and then close/save it as a .WAV or .AIFF but with the errors.
.WAV files are very similar to .RAW in that they contain only (an over simplification) the audio data.
Neither format is better than the other, but .WAV files can be more easily read. Both are lossless, if you dont include the header and footer information.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Yo Jo!
Post Script: As to the .RAW reference. I am so old school I remember when this wasn't just a bitmap specific file format. Before the proliferation of windows, file extnesions were a little more free form. A .RAW sound file was just that, the raw information with out and headers and footers. Not much diffrent than the .RAW for graphics, which spawns as a bitmap.
Re: aiff to wav?
I use spark ME: free, usable for all 2-track purposes and to be found here:
http://www.tcworks.de/home/content/en/PRODUCTS/spark/SparkME_X/render_main
I personally think it's always good to have a nice audio editor at hand (you can actually use one VST plug-in at a time...)
hope this helps
vSpacken
I use spark ME: free, usable for all 2-track purposes and to be found here:
http://www.tcworks.de/home/content/en/PRODUCTS/spark/SparkME_X/render_main
I personally think it's always good to have a nice audio editor at hand (you can actually use one VST plug-in at a time...)
hope this helps
vSpacken
Well I wasnt going to tell you why, but since you asked I guess I will.
I have a TON of Grateful Dead concerts on DAT and cd, (over 1500 hours worth) and I have been trading these concerts with people for over 20 years, First their were audio cassette's, then Dats, then cd's, and now shn's. If you dont already know, shorten is a "lossless" compression scheme, quickly becoming popular in the trading community because, using shorten you can cut the file size of audio tracks in half, and unlike mp3's NO data is lost. So you can take a concert that is say 1.2 gig's in size and compress it down to 600 megs, and when you expand it back it is the EXACT same as it was before. This means that we can now trade concerts in their compressed form on dvd's, so instead of trading one show that takes up 3 cd's, we can trade ten, three disc shows using only one disc. See the advantage?
Anyway, To convert an audio file to a shn the file must be in .wav format inorder for shorten to accept it. The problem is that I have been using Toast to burn my cd's for a long time, and as you know Toast only deals with .aiff files. So most of my audio cd's are in .aiff format. I have people BEGGING me to trade shn discs with them now, and the other day I brokedown and agreed to a 25 show trade on dvd's. Well I put a cd in my drive getting ready to copy it to my hard drive to compress it, and I realised that all the tracks are in .aiff format which shorten doesnt understand. Now he has already sent me my disc's, and I am still trying to figure out how to make his. I am considered to be one of the top traders in the community, and this makes me feel SO stuipid, that I want to scream!
Then I had an epiphany: I have to find a way to convert .aiff files to .wave files.
P.S. to clarify things, Shorten is the program used to convert .wave files into .shn files
I have a TON of Grateful Dead concerts on DAT and cd, (over 1500 hours worth) and I have been trading these concerts with people for over 20 years, First their were audio cassette's, then Dats, then cd's, and now shn's. If you dont already know, shorten is a "lossless" compression scheme, quickly becoming popular in the trading community because, using shorten you can cut the file size of audio tracks in half, and unlike mp3's NO data is lost. So you can take a concert that is say 1.2 gig's in size and compress it down to 600 megs, and when you expand it back it is the EXACT same as it was before. This means that we can now trade concerts in their compressed form on dvd's, so instead of trading one show that takes up 3 cd's, we can trade ten, three disc shows using only one disc. See the advantage?
Anyway, To convert an audio file to a shn the file must be in .wav format inorder for shorten to accept it. The problem is that I have been using Toast to burn my cd's for a long time, and as you know Toast only deals with .aiff files. So most of my audio cd's are in .aiff format. I have people BEGGING me to trade shn discs with them now, and the other day I brokedown and agreed to a 25 show trade on dvd's. Well I put a cd in my drive getting ready to copy it to my hard drive to compress it, and I realised that all the tracks are in .aiff format which shorten doesnt understand. Now he has already sent me my disc's, and I am still trying to figure out how to make his. I am considered to be one of the top traders in the community, and this makes me feel SO stuipid, that I want to scream!
Then I had an epiphany: I have to find a way to convert .aiff files to .wave files.
P.S. to clarify things, Shorten is the program used to convert .wave files into .shn files
I don't know what the Mac equivalent is, but SonicFoundrys BatchConverter is a great program for batching out file changes, including some of the newer lossless formats (if you can find the DirectX plugin). You might also consider cleaning up some of the audio, that will also save space, but I also know some audiophiles wouldn't have it.
For speed and proliferation of the material, you might want to consider a lossy compression. You could, technically, give out or trade a CDs and DVDs with MP3,4s of all your recordings.- Just to keep the faith and good will going.
For speed and proliferation of the material, you might want to consider a lossy compression. You could, technically, give out or trade a CDs and DVDs with MP3,4s of all your recordings.- Just to keep the faith and good will going.
Use iTunes like I said at the top. It is by far the easiest. You can create a playlist of all the songs you want to convert and then convert the entire group.
That is NOT the point, I am archivist. I do this only to preserve the music, not to see how much I can get. I want my children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy this great music, and to let them know what music was like when real people hand crafted it, instead of a just a computer synthesizing it. This music is priceless, you cant just go out to a store and buy it. In fact it is illegal to buy or sell it, they only allow you to trade it. You have to get from someone who got it from someone else, who in turn got it from a person who new a person that got it from a diffrent person and so on. Some of the stuff i've got can be traced back through 380 people who traded it back and forth, to the actual person who took the time to make a recording at the concert. <end rant>
Thanks MacBandit!!
itunes works like a champ, I didnt think that it would work but it did! Thanks for your help man!
Just in response, something that I shouldn't do, but you assume that I meant sell. I just meant proliferate. A number of the Deadheads that I have met like to freely give out copies of recording that they had made, just to keep the good word going.
Barring the illegal bit, it just isn't ethical to take somebody elses hard work and to profit off of it. I am quite proud not to own a single MP3 or illicitly copied CD.
I learn more and more about audio and the Mac with each day. When I have the cash, ill dive in with a new osX machine. Your question, and the responces it spawned, have helped me a great deal.
Barring the illegal bit, it just isn't ethical to take somebody elses hard work and to profit off of it. I am quite proud not to own a single MP3 or illicitly copied CD.
I learn more and more about audio and the Mac with each day. When I have the cash, ill dive in with a new osX machine. Your question, and the responces it spawned, have helped me a great deal.