No .wav file compatibility?

[Cairo]

I receive emailed voice mails as .wav files. Pretty standard stuff. Can't play them with the stock player. Rediculous.

Anyone have a seamless app they recommend? I get these a lot and would prefer to not have to save the file, convert it, then play it, etc.

There's gotta be an app for that.

 

[WhiteSoul8]

Did you receive it in a compressed format, and did you check to make sure the .wav file was playable on your desktop/laptop?

I just downloaded a .wav file from the internet, and emailed it to myself. I checked the email on my phone. I clicked on the attachment, and it downloaded the file to my phone. I clicked on it again, and it loaded the .wav file in the music player and played perfectly.

After doing the above, I clicked and held the attachment (in the email program) to display a menu, and selected "save to SD card". I then opened the music player... after finding the file, it had no problems playing it.

So - the phone can play .wav files just fine. The question is, where's the slip-up? =)

I receive emailed voice mails as .wav files. Pretty standard stuff. Can't play them with the stock player. Rediculous.

Anyone have a seamless app they recommend? I get these a lot and would prefer to not have to save the file, convert it, then play it, etc.

There's gotta be an app for that.

 

[Cairo]

Did you receive it in a compressed format, and did you check to make sure the .wav file was playable on your desktop/laptop?

Don't know about the file being compressed, however they play fine on my PC and blackberry.

I just downloaded a .wav file from the internet, and emailed it to myself. I checked the email on my phone. I clicked on the attachment, and it downloaded the file to my phone. I clicked on it again, and it loaded the .wav file in the music player and played perfectly.

I clicked and it said it was not a supported file. I need to click and play.

After doing the above, I clicked and held the attachment (in the email program) to display a menu, and selected "save to SD card". I then opened the music player... after finding the file, it had no problems playing it.

So - the phone can play .wav files just fine.

Not in my experience. Also, a quick Google revealed others with android 2.2 having similar issues. a2.0 had no .wav compatibility. a2.1 was OK, and a2.2 is debatable, I guess.

 

[Cairo]

Just tried another voice mail. saved it to sd card this time (though it's silly to have to do that) clicked to play and again was told this is unsupported

 

[WhiteSoul8]

Just tried another voice mail. saved it to sd card this time (though it's silly to have to do that) clicked to play and again was told this is unsupported

Ok! I did a little research. I'm glad you clarified that it was a voicemail file, and that it would play on your blackberry.

Without getting too technical, a .WAV file is an audio format. .WAV files can be written in different ways depending which "CODEC" is used. A codec is (more or less) a protocol/language for encoding and decoding. They are typically different types of compression that makes the file smaller while retaining varying levels of quality.

Many voicemail systems will write a .WAV file using a codec (such as .GSM) in order make the file smaller - which conserves storage space. So, in a sense, it is no longer a "WAV" file - it is a "GSM" file, labeled with the .WAV extension.

Many "codecs" are well known, and considered to be "standard" across a variety of platforms. For example, .GSM is a common format that many (not all) .wav players are able to interpret and decode.

The blackberry, for example: It's .wav player knows how to handle the .gsm codec.

It appears, from all the searches that I have done, that there are certain codecs and file characteristics that the Droid 2 (and even other android phones) are unable to interpret. This is upsetting the masses because voicemails emailed as .wav files are common in the business world, and people aren't able to retrieve their messages!

There doesn't appear to be a fix from google at this time (from what I've gathered).

Two solutions that I've read about are ....

1 - Download an application called "Audiowav" for $2.98 which will handle the files. Another common app mentioned in the reviews I've read is "Remote Wav".

2 - A service called PhoneConvert.Com assigns you an email address on their server. You email the .wav file to your assigned email address, and it returns the message in a format that you'll be able to listen to.


I've read messages from people that had problems with both personal voicemail systems and corporate voicemail systems. Supposedly, some of the corporate voicemail systems can be configured to send a plain/raw ".wav" file, however, the fix should really be on the end user's phone and not by altering the phone system and creating problems for the masses.

Kinda stinks! It works on the pc and the blackberry because they are compatible with the alterations made to the file to save space...

 

[Cairo]

Nice detailed reply. Thanks for taking the time to write that. Audiowav sounds like a good app for this, assuming it's a click and play application. Can't find it in the Android Market, though. I'll keep looking

Thanks again!