04 October 2007

Hosting files and the read/write web.

During this discovery of the web I have been able to access 2 100mb capacity web server space.
GooglePages
and
GoogleGroups

These have been just started today, if you have any tips, please add your comment here.

Podcasting continued

Well, I found a way to upload my files to the net. It is really very simple for me as I have a gmail account, by Google. Google Groups allows up to 100Mb of space and I am still investigating the functionality, I'll get back to this soon.

Now I'm looking for comments and suggestions, so please comment on this work, Thank you!

SweetSunShine-VO.mp3 is the Voice Over with music in the background created on my PC. And Sweetsunshine95.mp3 is the file that the music came from.

Clicking on these links will attempt to download a file

SweetSunShine-VO.mp3 is 4.20 MB (4,407,902 bytes) in size
Sweetsunshine95.mp3 is 5.14 MB (5,400,059 bytes) in size

Here are the links.....



The Voice over, Mp3 Audio Dialog is re-presented here,

"Hi, My name is Glenn and this is my original mp3 audio file.

A sound file is an important feature of communication technology and a convenient way of getting information across to a broad audience.
Having the capability to record and playback audio files on a computer is one of the ways to contribute to the new read/write web. We can set the scene with background music and sounds, write and record a narrative and share it with anybody on the internet.

This original file was created on a pc with audacity by using an existing music track and voice overs.

The tune was edited and imported into audacity and the voice overs recorded and time shifted. Then the music track was modified to accentuate the V.O. and both tracks were mixed into this single stereo mp3 file.


What is an mp3?
The mp3 codec is "designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original"
reference, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3. last modified 21:12, 2 October 2007

The mp3 codec offers a compression factor of up to "14 without noticeably affecting the CD-quality sound" , cutting the size of the average sound file from around 32Mb to 3Mb.
It does this by assessing the program material and leaving out soft sounds that may not be apparent during loud passages, sounds outside the bandwidth of the human ear and by keeping the sounds that are sensitive to the ear.

The MP3 version of the song does not sound exactly the same as the original CD song because certain parts of a song can be eliminated without significantly hurting the quality of the song for the listener. This is called "near CD quality" which is fine for uncomplicated program material.
reference, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mp31.htm


How to create a mp3 sound/audio file
An mp3 file requires the lame codec which is freely available from the internet. According to the Wiki, the aac format is also popular for it's natural sounding. The codec reduces the size of the file while retaining it's main characteristics and message. File size is important in web transfers. Large files take up larger chunks of memory space on servers and take longer to download.

The program used is Audacity, for MS windows. There are some tutorials on the audacity web site to get you started using the program straight away. If you're like me and want some extra tutes, the atomic learning site from the UK (http://movies.atomiclearning.com/uk/home) may be of assistance.

Audacity is free and open source software which is available over the internet simply for your cost of retrieval and storage. Free as long as, if you share it you supply all the files and documentation that come with the software package. That's it, free!

I hope you enjoy it and I hear from you soon."

Audacity may have a new version, check here..http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ for these files I used Audacity 1.3.3 beta. It has an auto-ducker facility and many other improvements.

Please let me know what you think, Glenn