A bit of a ramble today (with a ton of links), but noteworthy in my opinion because it showcases how the desire to do what at first seems like a very simple thing can become a torturous ordeal that never seems to end. Thankfully, I think I might be in the home stretch:
A project I’ve been been doing in small chunks over the past few months is coming to a head, and one of the hurdles I’ve been facing is finding a way to turn a Flash (.swf) file into an MPEG. After a drawn-out process spent searching for an app to create high-quality movies from actions on the screen (I tried out Movie Grab, Ambrosia Software’s Snapz Pro and Screen Movie), I didn’t feel like coughing up the $69 for Ambrosia’s Snapz Pro, despite the fact that it did exactly what I wanted. I appreciate the quality of Ambrosia’s products but couldn’t justify the expense for what was very likely a one-time use. Thankfully, I just found out that QuickTime has the ability to open flash files! While the audio controls are nonexistent, you can export the file as an MPEG, sans audio…leaving me with one more problem: getting that sweet music.
We finally get to the tidbit responsible for the idea of the post in the first place: iPod Linux (also known as Podzilla)! I first heard about it via TUAW and others, in addition to the press generated by DOOM on the iPod. The geniuses behind Tux’s conquest of the pearly-white (and now black) portable media player included a recording function that allows you to sample at rates much higher than the paltry 8 kHz provided by third-party accessories like the iTalk and the phallic TuneTalk. The newest problem? Getting it onto my ‘Pod – I have a fourth-generation player and iPod Linux won’t run on it…yet.
I’ll get the audio from you, dear Flash flies. I SWEAR IT! Thus the race is on to see if iPod Linux for the 4th generation iPod comes out before I find some sort of workaround – I’ve tried recording audio from my speakers using my Skype headset, I’ll try using my roommate’s minidisc player to record sound from my line-out…there are still several options, seeing as how I just need the audio.
I’ll get there…
Maybe this is too late but her eis a possible solution. It may be a pain but you could use one of the Audio Hijack applications to suck just the sound from the file. It s Rogue Amoeba software.
I actually found a way to get around it – I used the free version of Snapz Pro to get the audio, removed the video in Final Cut Pro and matched it with a .mov conversion made using QuickTime Pro (since it didn’t save the audio). A few steps, maybe, but it worked! If I ever need to do such a thing on a regular basis, I’ll definitely buy Snapz Pro. Great app.