[Orgmode] changing headline format

[news]

Hi,
   does anyone know if there is an easy way to change the headline
   format for outline/org mode? I know about hiding stars and using odd
   levels only in org, but I want to be able to convert a file so that
   the actual text of the headlines is changed.
   More specifically I want to be able to quickly convert directory
   trees that I grabbed with the unix tree command into org trees.

-- 
aleblanc