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. Paul
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
On Thursday 04 May 2006 2:43 pm, Carl Hartung wrote:
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?
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 what I got when I tried both: pwa@suillus:~/tmp> sox CW1.wav -e stat sox: Failed reading CW1.wav: Sorry, this WAV file is in GSM6.10 format and no GSM support present, recompile sox with gsm library pwa@suillus:~/tmp> audacity audacity: error while loading shared libraries: libFLAC.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Looks like there's no hope with sox unless I can locate the gsm library, but perhaps audacity can handle it if I can locate the right version of libFLAC. At least sox told me what the problem is. Paul
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Thursday 2006-05-04 at 16:45 -0400, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
pwa@suillus:~/tmp> sox CW1.wav -e stat sox: Failed reading CW1.wav: Sorry, this WAV file is in GSM6.10 format and no GSM support present, recompile sox with gsm library pwa@suillus:~/tmp> audacity audacity: error while loading shared libraries: libFLAC.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Looks like there's no hope with sox unless I can locate the gsm library, but perhaps audacity can handle it if I can locate the right version of libFLAC.
There is a gsmlib package (at least in SuSE 9.3), but I'm not sure if that's the one you need. There is also a "flac" package, containing a "libFLAC.so.6.0.1" and a "libFLAC++.so.4". - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFEWob5tTMYHG2NR9URAob7AKCEgIqsOBdV+dy1cjiUSrjALoTyfQCffF74 wF0aB8zzdwWven92SNRaBKE= =HwQT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Thursday 04 May 2006 19:43, Carl Hartung wrote:
Here's an excerpt from my ongoing sox 'cheat-sheet':
Very useful, Carl. Thanks for sharing it. -- Pob hwyl / Best wishes Kevin Donnelly www.kyfieithu.co.uk - KDE yn Gymraeg www.eurfa.org.uk - Geiriadur rhydd i'r Gymraeg www.rhedadur.org.uk - Rhedeg berfau Cymraeg www.cymrux.org.uk - Linux Cymraeg ar un CD
On Friday 05 May 2006 03:58, 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?
If the file has come from Asterisk it is not a true .wav file but uses some strange codec (I really haven't investaged what they are using). Try installing kmplayer from http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-navigation.php?cat=/Multimedia/kmplayer and see if that plays it. -- Regards, Graham Smith
On Thursday 04 May 2006 22:08, Graham Smith wrote:
Try installing kmplayer from http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-navigation.php?cat=/Multimedia/kmplayer and see if that plays it.
Thanks for the suggestion, Graham, but I thought kmplayer was a KDE GUI... a front-end for MPlayer? I followed Carlos' lead and installed gsmlib. Audacity then opened and played the file without a problem. (Paul send a copy of the problem file via PM last night.) Thanks Carlos! And you're welcome, Kevin. I'm glad you find it useful... personally, I really think it's embarrassingly short to be called a 'cheat-sheet.' So, Pau, that's the answer... the package "gsmlib" is part of the base 10.0 distribution... installable in no time via YaST Software Management or apt. After it's installed, Audacity has no problem with the file. sox is another issue... needs to be recompiled with gsm support enabled. regards, Carl
On Friday 05 May 2006 8:51 am, Carl Hartung wrote:
So, Pau, that's the answer... the package "gsmlib" is part of the base 10.0 distribution... installable in no time via YaST Software Management or apt. After it's installed, Audacity has no problem with the file.
So how can I get Audacity invoked when I click on a .wav file? I've changed the file association for *.wav, and also wav, in Konqeror and also in the Control Center file associations, and it still comes up with xmms. Paul
On Friday 05 May 2006 1:27 pm, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
On Friday 05 May 2006 8:51 am, Carl Hartung wrote:
So, Pau, that's the answer... the package "gsmlib" is part of the base 10.0 distribution... installable in no time via YaST Software Management or apt. After it's installed, Audacity has no problem with the file.
So how can I get Audacity invoked when I click on a .wav file? I've changed the file association for *.wav, and also wav, in Konqeror and also in the Control Center file associations, and it still comes up with xmms.
I have half the answer now. I need to specify audacity both for the wav and the x-wav types. But I'm wondering what the difference between them is. Paul
On Friday 05 May 2006 13:27, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:
So how can I get Audacity invoked when I click on a .wav file? I've changed the file association for *.wav, and also wav, in Konqeror and also in the Control Center file associations, and it still comes up with xmms.
Once the library is installed, Open Audacity from the Multimedia menu then open the .wav file. Carl
participants (5)
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Carl Hartung -
Carlos E. R. -
Graham Smith -
Kevin Donnelly -
Paul W. Abrahams