"The Road to Find Out" is back

[backwoodsman]

Jarrod, I wonder if you could convert them down (WAY down) to a lower bitrate before posting? 128kbps is great for music, but it's way, way more than you need for speech, and it makes the files 50MB, which is big enough to be inconvenient to download even on broadband, and it's just not possible on dialup. Really all you need for speech is 16kbps, which will make the files around 6MB -- no problem on broadband, and doable on dialup. While you're at it, converting them from stereo to mono will improve the audio quality a bit.

[steve]

The current programs have now all been posted. There will be a time lag getting the programs up when I am doing them remote from out of town. I receive them by dik from the station, and upload them to Jarrod. When I am out of town, I cannot do this until I return.

[backwoodsman]

Again I'd like to request that RTFO be posted at a bitrate something less than CD-quality. For speech, there's no advantage to making the files so big, and it makes it difficult or impossible for many to download them. 128mbps makes a file around 50MB; 16mbps will make a 6MB file that's virtually indistinguishable on most computer speakers, and is much easier to download.

[steve]

Hi Dan,

I have to take the blame for the size of those files. I get them from the radio station in a WAV format, and use an mp3 converter to upload them to Jarrod to be posted here. The mp3 converter that I am using does not appear top give me bit rate options (it is one I got for free). Apparently, it defaults to a high rate, and I don't know how to change it. Jarrod might be able to convert it down, at his end, though he is very busy in his work, and does what he does here as a volunteer in his free time. He may not have the time to do those conversions. He can answer for himself on that.

[jarrod]

I think this is a very valid request and I will try to convert these from now on before posting them -- it really only takes a few extra minutes per show to convert them and even saves drive space. My main concern, obviously, is making sure they're at least posted and available to be streamed/downloaded depending on how much I have to do!

Again I'd like to request that RTFO be posted at a bitrate something less than CD-quality. For speech, there's no advantage to making the files so big, and it makes it difficult or impossible for many to download them. 128mbps makes a file around 50MB; 16mbps will make a 6MB file that's virtually indistinguishable on most computer speakers, and is much easier to download.

[darinhouston]

Steve, what program do you use? I could look into it and tell you how to change that setting.

[braunchad]

I'm glad I logged into the forum. I loved "The Road to Find Out". Thanks for making this happen.

[steve]

Steve, what program do you use? I could look into it and tell you how to change that setting.

The program is called "Switch." There may be a real obvious way to change the settings, but I am mostly computer illiterate.

[backwoodsman]

Hey Steve,

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/screenshots.html

It looks like there's a button at the bottom of the program window, "Encoder Options". If you look at the last screen shot on the link above, I think that's what that button brings up. In that window, the following should work:

Click "Constant Bitrate"
Select 16 in the dropdown box labeled "Bitrate (kbps)"
Below that, under Channels, select Mono.

That should do it, and should produce a file around 6MB.

-Dan

[darinhouston]

Man, you beat me to it.