Creating 1st Show on SD Card-1 Song Says Not an .mp3

[Yodlei]

Trying to create my 1st show on SD Card for Mini Director & problem with 1 song after finally getting the hang of some easy sequencing for LED display for the 4th. Pop-up says it isn't an .mp3. All songs were downloaded from I-Tunes & have a .m4a extension, including the 1 it won't accept. Couldn't find anything on this by doing a search & gave up after 8 or so pages. Any suggestions? BTW, card is a Kingston from LOR.

Thx, Joni

[TheDucks]

Run it thru Audacity to convert to MP3

[k6ccc]

With 128Kb/s constant bit rate.

 

[Orville]

Not all, but some music sites allow you to download their music files in different formats other than m4a  always select MP3 if available.  If the music site allows downloading in different audio formats, I'll download 3 versions: M4A, MP3 and WAV.

I know LOR recommends 128K, Constant Bit Rate (CBR) for MP3's for use in their Directors, however, the newer G3 and G4 Directors can use 320K, CBR MP3 files.

This is what I use in my N4-G4 Director, have been for several years now, too me, these sound much better than 128K ever did.  And I have yet to encounter any issues or playback problems using 320K, CBR MP3 files in my Director. 

And they definitely sound much better when using an FM Transmitter than those tinny 128K sounding MP3's!

Older/original Directors may be able to use 192K, CBR, my original Director could, but anything above 192K, CBR, like 256K or 320K was ignored and wouldn't play. (Pre-GEN3).

But always use what you feel is best for you, just tossing this out because I do use 320K, CBR MP3 files, and they have always worked very reliably in my N4-G4 Director for years.

[k6ccc]

The LOR recommendation for at least the early directors was 128 Kb/s CBR.  I am happy to hear the newer Directors are more flexible in that regard.  I completely agree that .mp3 encoding at 128 Kb/s is the very low end of usable.  I have .mp3 files of every CD I own (something like 12 shelf feet), and have always ripped at a higher data rate because the audio quality.

 

[Orville]

7 hours ago, k6ccc said:

The LOR recommendation for at least the early directors was 128 Kb/s CBR.  I am happy to hear the newer Directors are more flexible in that regard.  I completely agree that .mp3 encoding at 128 Kb/s is the very low end of usable.  I have .mp3 files of every CD I own (something like 12 shelf feet), and have always ripped at a higher data rate because the audio quality.

 

Yes, the newer Directors are far superior to their older cousins.  I actually got away with 192K CBR in the original DC-MP3 Director, I may not have the name exactly right.

The original Directors would play 192K MP3 files, but would ignore them if they were 256K or 320K.  Those higher than 192K would most often lock up the show as soon as it hit a sequence over 192K, and having to redo the entire SD card all over again.

But I have had ZERO issues with 320K CBR MP3's with the N4-G4 I use to run my displays.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Orville

[Yodlei]

Sorry for the delay but close, longtime friend passed away among other issues.

Thanks for all the replies but still a question that was left due to how a phrased my question. Denied song was already used & sequence done. Found how to make an .mp3 copy of it using my I-Tunes. Is there a way to substitute this new copy in the sequence or will I have to start all over with it. If so, I just won't use it this year.

Joni

[Orville]

19 minutes ago, Yodlei said:

Sorry for the delay but close, longtime friend passed away among other issues.

Thanks for all the replies but still a question that was left due to how a phrased my question. Denied song was already used & sequence done. Found how to make an .mp3 copy of it using my I-Tunes. Is there a way to substitute this new copy in the sequence or will I have to start all over with it. If so, I just won't use it this year.

Joni

All you should need to do is open the original (copy of) sequence and import the new MP3, as long as both are the same length, shouldn't be any issues.  I sometimes use a wave file to sequence a song, then when completed, just load the MP3 to the sequence, save new version with the MP3 and you're done.  If the 2 MP3 files are different lengths in play time, then you may need to do some additional editing (minor edit) to have everything match up.

Good Luck! :)

[Yodlei]

34 minutes ago, Orville said:

All you should need to do is open the original (copy of) sequence and import the new MP3, as long as both are the same length, shouldn't be any issues.  I sometimes use a wave file to sequence a song, then when completed, just load the MP3 to the sequence, save new version with the MP3 and you're done.  If the 2 MP3 files are different lengths in play time, then you may need to do some additional editing (minor edit) to have everything match up.

Good Luck! :)

Sorry for the delay again...I was actually trying more sequencing & didn't pay attention so I'll try to be more responsive. I'm a newbie remember & not a computer master either like many of you :)..."original (copy of)" ...huh? Opened my sequence & not seeing an import option. We're talking in the Sequencer, correct? or do I need to open an LOR folder to do this?

Thx

[Orville]

13 minutes ago, Yodlei said:

Sorry for the delay again...I was actually trying more sequencing & didn't pay attention so I'll try to be more responsive. I'm a newbie remember & not a computer master either like many of you :)..."original (copy of)" ...huh? Opened my sequence & not seeing an import option. We're talking in the Sequencer, correct? or do I need to open an LOR folder to do this?

Thx

I don't know what version you're using, but in the older versions (I'm still using 4.4.16 Pro) from the sequencer you'd select "Edit" from the top tool bar, then select "Media", go to folder where you saved the updated or file converted to MP3, click on the MP3 file, click open, then once loaded save the file back out and now the MP3 you needed and the sequence are now married together.

What I mean by (copy), is you never want to work on the original, always make a copy of it in a different folder, then make, edit, add or subtract any changes to the copied sequence.  Once it lines up with the original, then you can delete the original and move the copy in its place.   You'll still have to rewrite the updated sequence to your SD card show for it to work in the director.

Hopefully, someone that is using the version you are can help you better with how to replace the MP3 file if it's different than the way I'm familiar with.

On this cell phone I'm using I can not see what version, or license level folks have, on my computer I can, but on this device I'm using, I don't get anything that would tell me that info. :(

[Yodlei]

16 minutes ago, Orville said:

I don't know what version you're using, but in the older versions (I'm still using 4.4.16 Pro) from the sequencer you'd select "Edit" from the top tool bar, then select "Media", go to folder where you saved the updated or file converted to MP3, click on the MP3 file, click open, then once loaded save the file back out and now the MP3 you needed and the sequence are now married together.

What I mean by (copy), is you never want to work on the original, always make a copy of it in a different folder, then make, edit, add or subtract any changes to the copied sequence.  Once it lines up with the original, then you can delete the original and move the copy in its place.   You'll still have to rewrite the updated sequence to your SD card show for it to work in the director.

Hopefully, someone that is using the version you are can help you better with how to replace the MP3 file if it's different than the way I'm familiar with.

On this cell phone I'm using I can not see what version, or license level folks have, on my computer I can, but on this device I'm using, I don't get anything that would tell me that info. :(

5.6.8 Pro. No "edit" tab..only File, Sequence, Tool, Window & Help but clicked on Sequence & there's a Media File option. Clicked on that & took me into the original LOR Sequences folder. Then I got to the new "Edit" folder I made & my copy isn't there. I'll keep digging...Thx

[Yodlei]

Since the copied sequence had the same name (didn't ask me to name it), I renamed it adding (copy). Still didn't find it until I started typing it in (not in my folder but in the search box, which showed the .loredit extension but when I click on it, get Windows Media Player box saying "The file you are attempting to play has a .loredit extension that does not match the file format.... The file you are trying to play might result in erratic behavior".

I'm not trying to play it per se. When it asks if I want to proceed & say yes, another box with "Unable to get the total time of the media file".

Edit....Duh. Was going into where I saved a copy of my sequence & not the .mp3 I made. Think I have it now. Was off by 5 secs so might have to adjust.

Thx!

Edited June 28, 2023 by Yodlei

[Yodlei]

Thx so much, Orville. That song worked but appears I'm going to have to make all the songs .mp3 since I tried making the show & now a different song is doing the same thing.

Wish it would've given me all songs with issues in the notification box instead of 1 at a time.

[Orville]

1 hour ago, Yodlei said:

Thx so much, Orville. That song worked but appears I'm going to have to make all the songs .mp3 since I tried making the show & now a different song is doing the same thing.

Wish it would've given me all songs with issues in the notification box instead of 1 at a time.

I know that feeling all too well, ran into that the first time I used a director to run my show, filename had an MP3 extension.  Okay, so far so good, right?  Nooooo, song crashed and locked up the director.  So I go and try to play it in a graphics/audio program, program comes back with MP3 file has an incorrect extension.  Rename file with proper extension, so I tell the program yes, turns out it was an ogg file.  Had to put it in my audio conversion software to create the MP3, found several like that, and only one at a time, ugh!

So I use a free program called IrfanView to verify any new MP3 files I download, as it always tells me if the file extension is incorrect or it can't play the file, then I know it's not an MP3 file! Sure has saved me a lot of time, been using this program for a very, very long time now.

P.S.  Glad I got you going in the right direction, even though there were a couple of detours along the way. :)

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Orville