help from noobzors

somerandomguy07

so i downloaded from bittorrent a music file formated in .APE, which switch can convert to anything, am i wrong? (i've used it to convert an .APE file before)

anyway. though the files have finished downloading and seem normal, when i started the download on bittorrent, there was a message on the log that said "This .torrent file has been created with a broken tool and has incorrectly encoded filenames. The names used may still be correct."

like i even know what that means.. but since it finished downloading, i tried to convert it with Switch converter, but the message i get is "This file does not exist. It may have been moved, renamed or deleted. Please verify its location and reload it into Switch."

on the list in Switch converter, the supposedly music file says 0.00 MB, but when i look at its properties in the folder it came in, it says 245 MB.. so that confuses me even further... I'm thinking it might be a joined music file because the file is called "CDimage CD1 Piano Concertos 1 & 3"

...yeah i'm a nerd. anyhoo, if someone can help explain all this (whatseemslike) mess to me and get me through this, it'd be greatly appreciated. thanks a bunch!

<_< <_< <_< <_< <_<

musikone

somerandomguy07 wrote:

so i downloaded from bittorrent a music file formated in .APE, which switch can convert to anything, am i wrong? (i've used it to convert an .APE file before)

anyway. though the files have finished downloading and seem normal, when i started the download on bittorrent, there was a message on the log that said "This .torrent file has been created with a broken tool and has incorrectly encoded filenames. The names used may still be correct."

like i even know what that means.. but since it finished downloading, i tried to convert it with Switch converter, but the message i get is "This file does not exist. It may have been moved, renamed or deleted. Please verify its location and reload it into Switch."

on the list in Switch converter, the supposedly music file says 0.00 MB, but when i look at its properties in the folder it came in, it says 245 MB.. so that confuses me even further... I'm thinking it might be a joined music file because the file is called "CDimage CD1 Piano Concertos 1 & 3"

...yeah i'm a nerd. anyhoo, if someone can help explain all this (whatseemslike) mess to me and get me through this, it'd be greatly appreciated. thanks a bunch!

<_< <_<

A bunch of _what_? At the risk of making a monkey of myself (you see, I have just installed the latest version 1.23 of Switch and know absolutely nothing about it, although I do know absolutely something about the much older version 1.05 that I have been using up to now), I would suggest that you first check out the integrity of the .ape file, using Windows Explorer (do you know what this is?). At least this will tell you whether or not that monkey on your back is real or imaginary. Just right-click on this file in Windows Explorer, choose "properties", and see how large it is, assuming of course that the size does not come up zero.

If this is indeed a real, honest-to-goodness file, let me tell you what it is, since you do not appear to know. An .ape file is a file that has been compressed in such a manner that (unlike an .mp3 file, for example), no information has been discarded. That is, an .ape file is just like a .flac file, although it tends to be smaller in size. Since it contains all of the information present in the .wav file from which it is created, it can, in theory, be converted to just about anything. Or so I think....

I made a quick test to convert one of my .ape files to a .flac file using Switch 1.23, and this conversion went without a hitch. Even though Switch cannot (unless there is something that I do not understand) convert a file to the .ape format, it _can_ open the file for processing to some other type of file. When it opens the .ape file, it converts it to a .wav file, but does not tell you that this is what it is doing. Following this opening, it then does the conversion as though you had started with a .wav file.

In summary, first check the integrity of your file, which apparently comes to you as an .ape file, before blindly trying to add it to the Switch window, hoping for the best without quite knowing what you are up to. See that the file indeed has a legitimate size and has the .ape extension and icon. It sounds to me like your file was corrupted _before_ you ever added it to the Switch window.

I would also suggest that you take the file out of the folder before you attempt to work on it with Switch. Along this same line, you have the option to add _either_ a file or a folder to Switch; perhaps you confused the two. If you had taken this business on a step-by-step basis, you would have avoided attempting the conversion of a corrupted file, which was of course doomed to failure.

Try this again, slow down a bit, and report back here (with a more comprehensible explanation!) if it is necessary. Meanwhile, as I explore this much newer version of Switch, perhaps I will earn a banana here or there!

musikone

P.S. I really like this .ape format and am now using it routinely for lossless compression of my music files for archival purposes, to save space. However, unless you have a specialized type of media player, you cannot "play" an .ape file, in a manner similar to playing an .mp3 file.

somerandomguy07

whoooaaaoaoaoaoaaaa -flies away in disbelief- :blink:

first off, i guess what i meant by checking my file's properties in the 'folder it came in' was that i used "windows explorer" (man i never use that term, i just call it my stuff) and it had, indeed, been a real APE file.

then all i did was drag the APE files out of the folder (that everything downloaded in) to a random place in my Documents, pulled it up with Switch in hope that just that works, and wth it did! :lol:

how... how does doing that make it work now, though? -is my question; sorry if it's a little broad :huh:

but anyway, at least i get to listen to my long-awaited music, not having to delete these "corrupted" files and looking for more through google (which there probably are none) :lol: annndd i thank you very, very, very much. um... you deserve a banana? IFFF that's what you want...

edit-

ook. i finally got through the conversion, but i'm wondering if there is a way to... "decompress" the files i downloaded? because now my music file is actually made of 6 parts (three movements for each concerto, and 2 concertos in one file) and it is super long. what i'm wanting is to get those original files before they were compressed in .APE format. can i do that? thanks again :mellow:

musikone

somerandomguy07 wrote:

whoooaaaoaoaoaoaaaa -flies away in disbelief-

first off, i guess what i meant by checking my file's properties in the 'folder it came in' was that i used "windows explorer" (man i never use that term, i just call it my stuff) and it had, indeed, been a real APE file.

then all i did was drag the APE files out of the folder (that everything downloaded in) to a random place in my Documents, pulled it up with Switch in hope that just that works, and wth it did!

how... how does doing that make it work now, though? -is my question; sorry if it's a little broad

but anyway, at least i get to listen to my long-awaited music, not having to delete these "corrupted" files and looking for more through google (which there probably are none) annndd i thank you very, very, very much. um... you deserve a banana? IFFF that's what you want...

My guess is that, in some mysterious way, you tried to use Switch to "convert" a _file_ instead of a folder. And since a folder has no size, as contrasted with the file contained within it, things went haywire from here.

When you add a _folder_ to the Switch window, what happens is that the _file or files inside this folder_ appear in the Switch window. Then when you click on the "convert" button, the _files_ in the window are converted to the output configuration selected. So be careful that what you are adding to the Switch window (i.e., a file versus a folder) corresponds with the "add" button that you use to display that file or folder in the window.

Perhaps with this understanding you will avoid this same problem, whatever it may have been, in the future :-)

musikone

Now do I get that banana?

somerandomguy07

hm.. did you get the edit to my last post? well anyway, here it is:

edit-

well i completely didn't understand too much of what you explained, but you got me through the conversion, simply by taking the files out of the folder they came in and adding them to the Switch window (i would neverinhell have thought about doing something like that myself to see if it would make it work), so i think you should have your banana... (what are we talking about when we say "banana"? lol) thanksss

musikone

somerandomguy07 wrote:

hm.. did you get the edit to my last post? well anyway, here it is:

edit-

ook. i finally got through the conversion, but i'm wondering if there is a way to... "decompress" the files i downloaded? because now my music file is actually made of 6 parts (three movements for each concerto, and 2 concertos in one file) and it is super long. what i'm wanting is to get those original files before they were compressed in .APE format. can i do that? thanks again

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Easy! Simply add the .ape file to the Switch window and convert it to an output .wav file. This _is_ the format of the file before it was compressed into a .ape file. However, it will probably be about twice as large.

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well i completely didn't understand too much of what you explained, but you got me through the conversion, simply by taking the files out of the folder they came in and adding them to the Switch window (i would neverinhell have thought about doing something like that myself to see if it would make it work)

Wait a minute. You did not have to do it this way. The simplest way to accomplish the same thing is to add the _folder_ containing the .ape file to the Switch window, after clicking on the "add folder" icon at the top of the Switch window. When you do this, you will get a directory window; browse through this directory to select the folder containing the .ape file and click OK. All of the files in this folder will then appear in the Switch window. Now select all of the files _except_ those that you wish to decompress and click on "remove", which causes these selected files to disappear. The file or files remaining in the window will be those that you want to decompress. Select them, choose your output format (.wav), choose an encode option wth a sample rate of 44100, choose stereo, and you're in business

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so i think you should have your banana... (what are we talking about when we say "banana"? lol) thanksss

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A banana is the reward that I get for tackling an APE file :-) If I tackle three APE files, then I get a bunch of bananas (3) as a reward. Are you with me?

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By the way, what on earth are you doing with six files for a Concerto? If you put the three files which result from your conversion of the three .ape files into the same folder as that containing the three .ape files, then you will of course end up with a folder that contains _six_ files--three of each. But after the conversion to .wav files, you no longer have any need for the three .ape files in that folder. So stop monkeying around and delete the three .ape files. You can then listen to your three-.wav-file concerto, each file corresponding with one movement of the concerto.

Get it?

musikone

somerandomguy07

no no no no no no. lol i didn't clarify the files <_< . i mean that i downloaded the music and originally, it came in 2 concertos in one .APE file (6 movements in one music file) and i want to know if there's a way i can take apart all these these movements. remember, one of these huge files, i downloaded as "CDimage CD1 Piano Concertos 1 & 3"

andd... i still don't understand the deal with the bananas :huh: "'tackling' an APE file"..... do you just like bananas? lol

musikone

somerandomguy07 wrote:

no no no no no no. lol i didn't clarify the files . i mean that i downloaded the music and originally, it came in 2 concertos in one .APE file (6 movements in one music file) and i want to know if there's a way i can take apart all these these movements. remember, one of these huge files, i downloaded as "CDimage CD1 Piano Concertos 1 & 3"

andd... i still don't understand the deal with the bananas "'tackling' an APE file"..... do you just like bananas? lol

Sorry, I completely misunderstood what you were saying.

Let's start over, but you might not like the answer that I am going to give you :-(

First, you must convert the on big .ape file to a .wav file. This is easily (hopefully) using Switch.

But now you have to use the WavePad editor to cut this one large file into six pieces, three movements each from the two individual concertos. The reason for my comment about your not liking what I am going to tell you is that you may not be familiar with using WavePad to perform tasks like this. If not, you have another hurdle to overcome, which is somewhat more severe than that of decompressing the .ape file to get a .wav file.

If you haven't used WavePad, you will have to download a trial version and study the included manual to find out how to go about chopping up one file into several pieces. Some folks take to this task, while others view it with dread.....In the latter case, this is a task whose discussion does not belong in the Switch forum. Assuming that you are unable to figure out how to use WavePad for this job, you should take it to the WavePad forum.

However, I am unprepared to repeat what is already covered (in my opinion, in sufficient detail) in the help manual that is furnished with that program. Of course, there may be others in the WavePad forum who are willing to pitch in to help you with _that_ task. I would not want to deprive others of having this opportunity to serve :-)

musikone

somerandomguy07

m'kay, well i was able to figure out the file splitting on my own and now i can lay back and listen to my music, free from misery

thanks a lot for directing me that way and even more for guiding me through using this Switch converter the smart way. So please enjoy your bananas.

--somerandomguy07