RealAudio to OggVorbis, to streaming?

A quick question to all you sound experts out there :-) I looked on the web and Usenet archives, but didn't find much.

Some guy has hundreds of radio talk shows compressed to RealAudio files (each .RM file about 10Meg).

1. Would he save space by converting those to OggVorbis? If  yes, do you know of any tool that can perform the conversion directly, or do we have to convert from RA to WAV, followed by WAV to OGG? Will sound quality suffer in the process?

2. Is it a good idea to use a streaming server like IceCast instead of just putting the sound files on a server for users to listen to using their favorite audio app, like it is currently done? Does a streaming server save bandwidth?

Thank you :-)

Frederic Faure
Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Streaming will save bandwidth because of users who would otherwise see your pile of Oggs and will decide "Hmmm, nice radioshows, I better download all of them so I can listen to them whenever I want/before they're put down." They fire up their download manager, suck it all from your site, then burn them on a CD and forget about them forever :-)

Phoenix
Tuesday, November 18, 2003

I just did that with Dr Dobb's Technetcast. GetRight I could kiss you.

Matthew Lock
Tuesday, November 18, 2003

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