Finding converter for audio in non-mp3, wma formats

[Will_518]

I've been looking for a freeware converter for .dat to .mp3 and .rm (but audio only) to mp3
and i've had no luck, i've seen a few that costs me $40, but shouldn't there be a freeware that does this? or at least a converter on BT or something.
Please help me find this converter.

p.s. i don't mean wma to mp3 and mp3 to wma converters. I mean converters for audio files in other formats or audio in video formats, e.g. .dat to mp3 or .avi to mp3 or .rm to mp3 ... etc

[vivitron 15]

is .dat an audio format? are you using kazaa by any chance?

[Vargas]

i use winamp myself to do that, you need an input plugin for non default formats, like the tara plugin for real formats, and the diskwrite or LAME output plugin.

[DarthInsinuate]

dbpoweramp should be able to do it, just get the appropiate codecs from their site

[orcutt989]

dbpoweramp should be able to do it, just get the appropiate codecs from their site

Seconded. I wasnt aware DAT was an audio file. Isnt that just a Kazza temporary file?

[vivitron 15]

thats what i thought

[Vargas]

though unlikely, it could also be media from a VCD

[Will_518]

yeah, it is the media from VCDs, i got a lot of music VCD from a few years back.

[Will_518]

thanks for the dbpoweramp suggestion, it's a great software, especially that it looks like freeware. It can convert realmedia files after a plugin, but can still only play .dat files rather than convert them. Still, it does half the job.

[vivitron 15]

well can you not use VCDeasy to extract the audio to whatever? i thought that was possible

[Will_518]

It might be possible, though they don't say much about it on their site (only had a quick look), and besides it's only a trial version, VCDs are out of date technology, so probably not worth the buy.

new find about dbpoweramp, it could in fact convert .dat after another plugin, only the quality is terrible, might just be a small problem with adjusting the settings, i don't know.

[vivitron 15]

dbpoweramp is def the way to go if you can - its a very nice tool,and ill bet the problems oyu had were to do with the quality settings on the app