Uploaded voice recordings won't play

I’ve recorded a number of wav files via the Fuze’s voice recorder. These play fine on the Fuze itself, but when I upload them to my computer (Vista OS), the file produces an error message with every audio player - including WMP, Audacity, Quicktime, and VLC.

Are these WAV files in a weird format? Do I need a special codec to play them?

Try putting the unit in MTP mode (Settings/System Settings/USB Mode) and viewing and transferring them with Windows Media Player (has to be WMP 10 or above). They may have some sort of stupid Digital Rights Misery in them that needs to go through WMP. Don’t ask me why.

@black_rectangle wrote:

Try putting the unit in MTP mode (Settings/System Settings/USB Mode) and viewing and transferring them with Windows Media Player (has to be WMP 10 or above). They may have some sort of stupid Digital Rights Misery in them that needs to go through WMP. Don’t ask me why.

Why?

Sorry, couldn’t help myself. :stuck_out_tongue:

@tcpiii wrote:

I’ve recorded a number of wav files via the Fuze’s voice recorder. These play fine on the Fuze itself, but when I upload them to my computer (Vista OS), the file produces an error message with every audio player - including WMP, Audacity, Quicktime, and VLC.

 

I doubt that the problem is with the wav files. What is the error message that you are getting when you try to play the wav. files?

@tcpiii wrote:

 

 Are these WAV files in a weird format? Do I need a special codec to play them?

Try to install this codec and play your wav files using WMP or VLC.

Thanks for the suggesion. I tried this, but I don’t even see the voice recordings on the Fuze in WMP. The files don’t appear, even when I click through all the options (TV Recordings, Pictures, Music, etc).

@jamieson wrote:

 



 

I doubt that the problem is with the wav files. What is the error message that you are getting when you try to play the wav. files?

 

 



Try to install this codec and play your wav files using WMP or VLC.

 

Jamieson:

I installed the codec. Didn’t make any difference.

Here are the error messages:

WMP

Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file.

VLC

main error: no suitable decoder module for fourcc `undf’.
VLC probably does not support this sound or video format.

The VLC messages file has a longer list of entries I could post if that would be helpful.

Thanks for your help.

I just made a voice recording and copied it to my desktop, and it played back with no problem through both Windows Media Player and  Winamp.

Its a 384kpbs, 24kz sampling rate PCM file (which is about 1/4 the kbps of the .wav files on CD, and an unconventional .wav file).

How about if you connect the Fuze, find the file in RECORD and try to play it back from the computer, same problem?

@black_rectangle wrote:

I just made a voice recording and copied it to my desktop, and it played back with no problem through both Windows Media Player and  Winamp.

 

Its a 384kpbs, 24kz sampling rate PCM file (which is about 1/4 the kbps of the .wav files on CD, and an unconventional .wav file).

 

How about if you connect the Fuze, find the file in RECORD and try to play it back from the computer, same problem?

 

 

Thanks, Black Rectangle. I took your suggestion, and it worked. I can play this new file on the Fuze through the Fuze, on the Fuze through WMP, and, after uploading, on my computer.

However: The six files I recorded in an important class 10 days ago, totaling about 6 hours of time, are not working. I originally tested them on the Fuze, and they played correctly. Once I uploaded them, they would not play. Unfortunately, I deleted them from the Fuze prior to testing the uploaded copies, so those are the only ones I have now. If I download those back to the Fuze - they do not play!

These are all the expected size. So the only explanation I can think of is that some of the headers were stripped in the uploading process. But why that should happen with these files and not with the short recordings you and I have just tested is beyond me.

More information: In Windows, I right-clicked on the file name and  looked at the “Properties” tab. The short file I recorded today which plays correctly has bit rate and length information. The files recorded at my class that don’t play correctly do not. None of the six. Don’t know how they lost that information, but it’s gone.

Obviously, we know the correct bit rate. There must be a way of figuring out the length in minutes from the bit rate and file length in Mb. Is there a way to add this information back to the file?

And any ideas how this information could be stripped?

No idea how they were stripped, but sadly and more importantly, no idea about how to restore it.

But Googling around, I found this:

http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?15778-Corrupt-wav-file-repair-help

Which suggests that good old free Audacity might be able to repair it by reading the raw data.

Audacity

Audacity works on files by putting them in its own format, .aup, and then if you want to play them back outside Audacity, you have to Export as… or Save as…

If you export or save them as .wav, they are going to be humongous, and a big strain on memory, so I suggest Export as Mp3.

You’ll need to get Lame for Audacity and install it before you do that, as explained here.

This is way beyond my specific knowledge, but it’s worth a try.