Video conversion/tech help for the dumb

[TheRightToArmBears]

'lo there, now I'm aware that most people around here have a much better knowledge of this kind of thing than I do. I was wondering if there was any way to convert videos (.flv format) into an audio file that will work on an ipod classic without losing a shitton of quality that happens when I try and convert them into .mp3s using Miro (it's a damn convenient program).

Is there actually any way to do this (yup, I really know that little about what I'm doing)?

 

[evilneko]

There are several options.

One is, grab Audacity. You can use it to record any audio playing on or coming into your computer. There's a dropdown box right next to the volume control for the mic, just switch it to your sound device and you should see the input monitor start reacting. Once you see that, you're golden. Hit record.

Now this is important: don't bother exporting to mp3 from Audacity. Just save it as a wav and use something else to encode it to mp3. Audacity's pretty terrible at mp3 encoding.

Also, there are probably a few programs out there that'll directly strip the audio out of an flv.

 

[SnowyGamester]

The best way is to not get your music from Youtube (sorry to be blunt, but I assume that's what you're doing). The audio tied to that kind of video tends to be of fairly low quality to begin with anyway. You're far better off to get it from a better source (like a CD, or a proper music service, or somewhere else you can find a normal mp3 of reasonable quality).

Though if you're set on that method or are doing it for some other purpose I find Total Video Converted to be a pretty all-round good solution for most kinds of conversions (this one included). Or as mentioned Audacity if you have stereo mix on your sound card or can loop the audio back into your mic port.