On Thursday 04 May 2006 13:58, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
I have a .wav file (a phone message) that I got as an attachment to an email. I tried to play it using xmms (the default), but it wouldn't play. If I saved it as a file and then tried to play the file, same result. Specifically, if I attempt to play it, nothing happens. The Play button does nothing and I get no sound. But if I move the same file to a Win computer, I can play it there. I can also play some other .wav files in xmms. Does anyone know what might be happening?
A related problem is that when I attempted to play it with RealPlayer 10, I got an error "/usr/bin/aoss: permission denied". A little investigation showed that the problem was somehow related to the Helix library, but I could get no further than that. I'm running KDE 3.5.2 and the sound system is enabled.
Hi Paul, The basic problem is that some devices like answering machines do a sloppy job of encoding the file. On the playback side, some players are more robust than others in their ability to interpret and play poorly constructed files written by other devices/programs. One of the best technical descriptions of the .wav file format I've ever found is here: http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/wavefiles.html You have a couple of relatively easy options to try: a) Import the file into Audacity and export it to .ogg or .mp3 format (you need the correct encoding/decoding libraries installed.) Note: I've had varying degrees of success using Audacity when trying to export a .wav like your's into a new file in another location... sometimes the problematic formatting migrates into the new file (still won't play) and sometimes not. b) Use sox from the command line to upsample or downsample the file while retaining the .wav format, or, use sox to convert the file into another format. Here's an excerpt from my ongoing sox 'cheat-sheet': Display file info: 'sox filename.xxx -e stat' Resample Up/Down: sox -r 22050 inputfile.xxx -r 44100 outputfile.xxx (example resamples from 22050 to 44100 Hz) Make Stereo (convert from 1 channel to 2 channel): sox monoinputfile.xxx -c 2 stereooutputfile.xxx Apply Low Pass Filter: sox inputfile.xxx outputfile.xxx lowp 3400 (example uses 3400 Hz threshhold) Adjust the Volume of a File: sox file1.xxx -v 5 file2.xxx (this example is a linear adjustment UP of 5) (use positive or negative numbers) (experiment and/or see man sox for details) Trim Tool (for splice & dice work): sox inputfile.xxx outputfile.xxx trim 0 10 (parameters are: start time and duration, in seconds) (example extracts only the first ten seconds) regards, Carl