Introduction

As you would already know most CD-Recording software uses the .WAV format to record audio as an Audio CD. With MP3s being all the rage there has arisen a need to convert them to .WAVs.

For those of you baffled by the terminology, .WAV files are an audio format. When you copy CDs to your hard drive they will be in this format. In order to save space, the .MP3 format is used to compress the music (MP3s are about 10 times smaller!!), however, as a Flash developer you can only import .AIFFs or .WAVs which is why this tutorial has been written.

First of all you will have to download Winamp. Once you have installed it and started it up, we can move on.

In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to convert an .MP3 song to .WAV. Winamp will allow you to convert multiple songs to .WAV, to do this simply create a play list and the start the conversion.

Pick an .MP3 that you want to convert pressing the eject button (see pic below) on Winamp¡¯s main window. This will take you to the Open File window. I'm going to use a song from the Flashkit theme CD, Moby's "Play". The track is called "Why does my heart feel so bad?".

Conversion Start

When the Open File window opens, locate the .MP3 file and open it. You will notice that immediately after, the song will begin to play in Winamp. This will give you a chance to make sure this is the song that you want to convert to .WAV.

Now the conversion. Make sure that the current song you¡¯re playing is stopped. Click on the button in the top left hand corner of the Winamp main window to open the Winamp main menu. Select Options> Preferences... (Ctrl+P) to open Winamp¡¯s Preferences window.

Changing Output Type

In the left windowpane of the Preferences, Select Output from the Plug-ins tree. In the right windowpane now there will be a list of different Output types in the right side. The default (ie listening to music) will be either "Nullsoft DirectSound plug-in v0.xx" or "Nullsoft waveOut plug-in v2.xx (x86)". Locate and select the plug-in called Nullsoft Disk Writer plug-in v1.x (x86) and click the Configure button at the bottom of the screen. When the dialog box appears nominate the save location and click OK.

Recording

Close the Preferences window and press the Play button on Winamp¡¯s main window. No sound will occur here but the track time will advance as if there was a file playing. Don¡¯t panic!! You computer is writing the .WAV file instead of sending the sound to your speakers. The overall time to convert the song will be shorter that its play time (about half the length of time).

Once it has completed converting the file have a look at the file name, it should have the same name as the .MP3 with a number towards the end of it. This is if you decided to create a play list for converting a group of .MP3s to .WAV, you can now maintain the same order that the songs were in in the play list even after converted.

Now that you've finished you'll want to change your output plug-in to what it was before. To do this go back to the Preferences window to the Output properties and re-select the Output plug-in you had before (ie ¡®Nullsoft waveOut plug-in v2.xx (x86)¡¯ or ¡®Nullsoft DirectSound plug-in v0.xx¡¯).

Quick Reference

Convert .MP3 to .WAV

1. Select .MP3 file to convert by pressing the eject button on Winamp¡¯s main window
2. Open the Winamp main menu
3. Select Options> Preferences...
4. Select Output from the Plug-ins tree
5. Choose "Nullsoft Disk Writer plug-in v1.x (x86)" plug-in
6. Press Configure button
7. Nominate the save location and click OK
8. Press the Play
   

Change Output plug-in back to 'Listening' default

1. Open the Winamp main menu
2. Select Options> Preferences...
3. Select Output from the Plug-ins tree
         Choose "Nullsoft DirectSound plug-in v0.xx" or
         "Nullsoft waveOut plug-in v2.xx (x86)"

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