--- Forwarded Message from John de Szendeffy <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 17:24:39 -0400 >From: John de Szendeffy <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: [log in to unmask] >Organization: Boston University >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: #5127 digitized audio cassettes >References: <[log in to unmask]> ------------------ Beth Ohmer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > And if anyone has any tips, tricks, suggestions or advice on digitizing, > compression schemes, delivery formats, or getting permission from > publishers please pass those along, too! We have digitized a considerable number of audio from texts. If you're interested in the form we use to seek permission from publishers, E-mail me directly and I'll attach it in response. In general, most publishers have granted us permission based on very specific descriptions of what we were doing and how. Some were very concerned that the access be limited to intranets. Re formats, we digitize from tape using SoundEdit 16 2.0 on G3 Macs (be sure to encode at 16 bit/44kHz). RealAudio provides a plug-in for SE16 that allows you to export directly to the .ra format. For our LAN, we use the 32kbs codec and it's indistinguishable from formats taking 10 times the space and plays nicely over the network without taxing it. We play files from a locked NT volume to 17-34 clients simultaneously without using a RealAudio server (although B.U. does have a license for the RA server). If you have publisher audio CDs to work with, note that some use the QuickTime movie format for the files, in which case they can simply be opened by SE16 and then exported as .ra. Others I've seen were saved as Apple CD Audio player files, in which case we had to play the files on the audio player while recording it in SE16, setting the audio input as the CD player. For video, we use primarily MPEG-1 at 800kbs. For streaming video, however, nothing beats QuickTime 4. The video quality is much better than RealVideo, at least as I have seen it on my G3/350 on a 10Mbs connection. The streaming QT server is also free. I watched the entire Macworld Expo keynote address by Steve Jobs and it was the best streaming Web video I'd ever seen. QT 4 Pro can convert a .mov file into a streaming QT file easily and it will tax your LAN far less. __________________________________________ John de Szendeffy <[log in to unmask]> Multimedia Language Lab Center for English Language and Orientation Programs Boston University ph (617) 353-7957 fx (617) 353-6195 Lab: http://www.bu.edu/celop/MLL CTG: http://www.bu.edu/celop/CTG Personal: http://www.bu.edu/johndesz/