Category Archives: Applications

Applications, Opinion, Products

MIDI to MP3 Converter & Shareware Software

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While searching and testing for good technical posts, here is another opinion one. Today I was searching for free software for convert MIDI to MP3. Yes, the old MIDI files because I want to have music in a website but I don’t want to violate copyrights. Then I found a website that has some free music with authorization to use. However they are, some of them, MIDI files.

Every time I search for a software to use one time or rarely, I’ve lots of problems like the lack of freeware to do it, shareware software that are commercial but work worst than free solution, and, the most “pain in the ass” the software classified as shareware that don’t fit the term shareware and don’t allow us to use it, allowing only convert a percent of the file or convert but don’t save the result.

Hopefully there are some companies and some products that don’t take us for fouls and don’t want money to use one time or to really test the software. In my journey to convert a MIDI file to MP3 I found the product Easy MIDI Converter from AudioTool.net. They allow us to convert 30 files, in a maximum of 5 in the same time, with good quality and a very simple interface without to configure hundreds of options like other solutions. It solved my problem. Despite I don’t want to buy the software I liked it and went to its website and I found some other cool features. This is what I think that shareware is for.

Thanks to AudioTool.net

Applications, Products

Play MOD movies made with a JVC camcorder

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Some time ago I bought a JVC camcorder that writes in an HDD or an SD card. The camcorder is great and has a magnificent image and sound quality, even if compared with some 5Mb digital cameras.

However when we try to see the movies that it produces face a problem. The camcorder record movies in a MOD file that is, in fact, a MPEG2 encoding. This way we can rename the MOD file to MPG and get the movie playing. The rename action couldn’t be the solution. The problem is that MPEG2 is a format that is not supported by default by some operating systems. For example, i have a Windows XP with the software that the camcorder bring, the Cyberling Power Director, and i can manage free my movies but when I’ve only my laptop with Windows Vista with me i couldn’t see the recorded movies. The solution is to install a package with the correct codec in Vista. I installed a Vista Codec Package and it starts working ok.

When you have the software (Cyberlink) that read MOD files you only have to used it and convert the movies to a more supported format. This software allows the user to make a complete movie with the recorded scenes. This can be done by getting all MOD files, select those that we want and produce a movie in a AVI or MPEG1 formats.

When you don’t have this software you can rename the MOD file to MPG and see it. Don’t forget to install the correct codec to play it. In some cases, the file doesn’t play at all or it can only be without sound.

This is not proved and it’s my own experience trying to play and produce my videos.