The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89513   Message #1689312
Posted By: GUEST,M.Ted
09-Mar-06 - 12:16 PM
Thread Name: Tech: Translate MAC files on an IBM-compatible
Subject: RE: Tech: Translate MAC files on an IBM-compatible
Macs are definitely the standard for professionals in radio, TV, moves, recording, etc, but(and as a mac user, it pains me to say this) most of what you can do on a Mac, you can do on a PC---You have to have a program that allows you to open and edit the files that you are working with--that's really the trick.

The first question is, what type of files are you working with? And right after that, what editing software are you using on your PC? If the editing software can open the file type, that's good--if not(and I assume it is not, otherwise you wouldn't have a probem) you have three possible choices:

First Choice: Convert your sound file to a kind that your editor can work with. This is the obvious choice, seemingly the easiest and cheapest--just get a simple converter program, maybe even a freeware program, and take all pesky files and convert them into a format you can use--and it might even work if you were just going to listen to them, but when you convert a file, the information is often altered--and, particularly if you are going to MP3 or similar format, the some data is actually eliminated--bad news for a work-in-progress--

Second Choice: Get an editor that will handle your file type, or install a codec to an editor that will allow your current editor to handle your file type. This sounds even better, but, different editors process the same files differently, and you may alter things you didn't mean to alter, or even know you altered--

Third Choice: Get the PC version of your Mac editor (and a lot of the latest generation-- OSX professional programs work on both Mac and PC) this is probably the best, since you won't have any problems with conversions or processsing differences, BUT--

But you shouldn't really do any of these things--you should edit   your master files in your original editing program, on your original machine--if you don't, sooner or later, you will have some sort of problem(and it's usually sooner)--

you can copy files of whatever you're doing and take them home, listen, make notes, but go back and do your real work on the original --it will save you a lot of time, and will reduce the risk of corrupting or destroying all your hard work--