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Can a MAC read .wav files?
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Subject: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: GUEST,Bev and Jerry Date: 20 Dec 03 - 01:06 AM We have a web site with a .wav file on it and it sounds fine on our Windows XP machine using explorer. We tried to hear it on someone else's computer which is a MAC using netscape and we could not hear it. The owner of that machine claims that MACs cannot read .wav files. Is that true? Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 20 Dec 03 - 01:48 AM No. Or, at least, not necessarily; it may depend on what OS your friend is using, how it is configured, what software he has installed, what browser he uses and whether you have set the MIME types properly on your website. Give us a few details. The XP/IE combination is a fairly useless one for testing cross-platform (and browser) compatibility. You should always test everything in the major non-MS browsers before going live; IE is designed to be idiot-proof, and tends to compensate for the more common coding errors; other browsers are not necessarily so forgiving. What plays the .wav on your own machine? |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: GUEST,JTT Date: 20 Dec 03 - 02:08 AM I was listening to John Lennon mumbling on in interview clips last night in .wav files; I'm using a Mac with the Panther operating system. But I'm pretty sure I've also opened them and heard them when using OS 9.2.2. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Bill D Date: 20 Dec 03 - 12:50 PM a question to the owners of the other machine would be whether they hear other sound files on the Mac...and whether they even know what program plays them. It is 'probably' just some setting or association not being set properly. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Amos Date: 20 Dec 03 - 12:56 PM Ity is not a platform dependency nor an OS dependency, really, but an application issue. Quicktime can read .wav files, and so can I-Tunes, in the versions that run under OS X.n. Dunno about earlier ones. A |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Bat Goddess Date: 20 Dec 03 - 01:00 PM Right, I use OS 9.1 and can read .wav files in Quicktime and RealAudio, I think. There's also WindowsMediaPlayer for Mac (though I don't think it's OSX compatible). Linn |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Amos Date: 20 Dec 03 - 01:05 PM Yeah, there is an OS-X version of WM Player. A |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 20 Dec 03 - 01:34 PM Sure, there is but it takes about an hour do download and install. And as far as I can tell, you just have to have it to circumvent those who insist on uploading audio/video files and then inform you must have Windows XP installed. Grrrrrr. I haven't found another way of getting this stuff to run on a Mac when it won't in Quicktime or Real Audio. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Amos Date: 20 Dec 03 - 02:41 PM Gee, CR, I haven't seen any problem downloading it. The DL took < 3 minutes and the install likewise. I'm using cable modem broadband, so that might make the difference. A |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 20 Dec 03 - 02:58 PM Hmmmm, Amos, I use DSL broadband too. I've never known anything else take so long to download. Must be my antagonism towards all things MS...and Mr Gates getting back at me. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Amos Date: 20 Dec 03 - 03:53 PM I share a good measure of your feelings toward MS but there may be a limit to the number of glitches that can be blamed on them. May be not, though! :>) A |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: GUEST Date: 20 Dec 03 - 06:00 PM Malcom: We have simply placed a link on the page which links to a .wav file. The site is written in HTML 4.01 Transitional. We did not use Dreamweaver or Front Page or anything else. We just wrote the code directly. On our computer, when you click on the link, the main window remains unchanged and the windows media player opens in the left-hand window where the favorites or history usually appear. We assumed that most computers would be able to open a .wav file in their default media player. is that not a good assumption? We should add that we have very little experience writing html. Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 20 Dec 03 - 08:26 PM Problems of that sort are unlikely to be html-related; that was a general point about testing web-pages. For what it's worth, I don't see anything wrong with your coding, though you might like to know that the horizontal rule colour definition appears to work only in IE, and users of most other browsers will see a default grey instead of the red you intended. I can't speak for Mac browsers. Sometimes, when a browser fails to open a media file, it is because the browser doesn't have a built-in component that can handle that particular format, or because a third-party plug-in is required for it. Installing the appropriate plug-in will usually solve the problem, but there may be times when it is necessary to tell the browser specifically what to do. This is a nuisance, and not everybody knows how to do it (the procedure has been made particularly opaque in the current version of Netscape, for some reason). In cases where the file is not being identified by the program or plug-in which would normally be expected to handle it, it is possible that the appropriate MIME type has not been set by the website administrator; in effect, the browser hasn't been told what the file is, and is therefore unable to decide what to do with it. Sometimes a browser will just guess that it must be a text file, and open it as such, which is rather a waste of time for all concerned. If anybody reports difficulties with media files on your site, the MIME type definitions are one of the first things you should check. How you do that will depend entirely on your webspace provider. In this case, though, the most likely explanation is that your friend just hasn't got anything on his machine that will play .wav format. There are various programs for Mac that will do it, but as a non-user I can't help more than that. What I will say, though, is that .wav isn't a very good format for cross-platform internet use; you would probably do better to use mp3, for instance. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Amos Date: 20 Dec 03 - 09:15 PM MP3, ,aiff, QuickTime and Real Audio are all more widely supported cross platform than .wav. A |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Bev and Jerry Date: 21 Dec 03 - 12:30 AM Thanks for the information. When trying to learn how to write code we were very confused about cross platform issues in general (and still are). We have seen the site on a MAC before and it looked fine but we didn't try the .wav file. Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: JohnInKansas Date: 21 Dec 03 - 02:38 PM Apple Support Search .wav Does seem to be a need for plugins with some versions, but support is there(?) for about everything I looked at. Of course, with the funny names they use for their li'l toasters, I may not have found the "main apple barrel." John |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 21 Dec 03 - 04:21 PM I've been trying to play the movie downloads on this site. I found at work I could drag and drop the files onto the WM player icon but at home (where I am still running OS 9.2) this doesn't work. Any ideas, anyone? |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 21 Dec 03 - 04:43 PM The site states that you have to be running Windows XP to watch those clips, but it isn't actually true. I'm running W98 (so this is not of any direct help with a Mac issue) but all that was required was to allow WMP (version 7) to update some codecs. You might try that, though I should think that you'd need to be running a fairly recent iteration of the player. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 21 Dec 03 - 05:05 PM Thanks, Malcolm. Yes, at work I don't have Windows XL either but got it to run on OS X by dragging and dropping onto the WMP. I downloaded WMP 7 for OS 9 at home but had no luck. And it doesn't work with Quicktime either. Can you please tell me what 'updating the codecs' means? (By PM if you think it would bore everyone else!) |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 21 Dec 03 - 07:30 PM I used the "open url" function in the player itself (you can't usually drag-and-drop in that way on pc). The nasty little thing loads slowly because it insists on displaying advertising before doing anything useful. It couldn't open the file to begin with, but did condescend to inform me that it required new codecs (these are procedural updates of some sort that take into account changes in encoding methods and so on); but that, because I had disabled "automatic codec download" (I make all these obnoxious little media players ask first before they access the web) it couldn't do it, and it wouldn't tell me which ones it wanted. Pure spite, of course. I had to enable automatic download and try again: whereupon it did what it wanted without telling me the details, but was thereafter able to play the files. The appropriate MIME type doesn't seem to be set on that server, incidentally, as Netscape opens the video files as if they were text. With a certain amount of arsing about I can no doubt override this by giving Netscape its own instructions at my end, but I don't know that I can be bothered. Most of this would be unnecessary if people were to encode their files in sensible formats in the first place. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 21 Dec 03 - 08:33 PM I suppose it's because the www has drifted so far from being an information exchange that its been reduced to a mere marketing tool. It couldn't, of course, be anything to do with the designer's preoccupation with caring only about style and nothing about content. If the browser and system you're using doesn't support all the non-standard gimmickry and coding embedded in the site you're trying to visit, it's obviously your fault for not rushing to get all the latest upgrades. Though it's hard not to when they scream at you that they're out of date every time you switch them on and beg you to spend hours searching the internet for new bits which they'll try their best to charge you for before they'll deign to load up or play anything at all. God, that was a rant. Is it just me? |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 21 Dec 03 - 09:02 PM No, it's me as well. The amount of aggressive, badly-designed crap I've had to install at one time or another (and later remove with extreme prejudice, and often some difficulty, after it had altered half the settings on the damn computer without asking) because I needed to check maybe one item on one website run by some fashion-victim who had used what he had been told was the latest "cool" proprietory format... grr. I also resent bitterly the fact that I have to "log in" at the blasted Post Office site before I can check a post code, but that's getting rather off-topic. At least I was able to set my preferences so that the site says "Hullo Bastard" when I sign in. It's a fairly accurate summation of the attitude these people seem to have toward us; though perhaps in the case of many media players, "Sucker" might be more to the point. |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: GUEST,Jon Date: 22 Dec 03 - 04:08 PM Bev and Jerry, I may have missed something as I have tried to read this thread quickly but why have you opted for .wav files? I know mp3 can lose some detail but it could prove to be a better format for what you are attempting. The files would be much smaller too - a serious concern for someone like me stuck on 28.8K dialup. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: JohnInKansas Date: 22 Dec 03 - 06:44 PM countess richard (et.al.) I tried a couple of the video clips on the page you cited (21 Dec 03 - 04:21 PM above). They are .wmv, Windows Media Video, files, and the "best" place to display them would be Windows Media Player. A couple that I saved to disk will not play in Quick Time, but will play in Real Player, if you have a recent enough version. The recent versions of Quick Time and Real Player that I have on my Windows machine will both play .wav files. (Quick Time makes it obscurely inscrutible how you do it, since you have to "open movie," then select "audio files" and run a "convert file format" before the play starts. It might be simpler if .wav defaulted to QT on my machine.) Although I am running WinXP, both of these programs, and Media Player, are available in Mac versions, and should provide very similar capabilities there. Compatibility with the various Mac OS versions is something that you need to determine for yourself, for your version. The best place to get info on what you can do with your Mac is at apple.com, at the "support" tab, and use the search function. I have to concur with comments above about the proliferation of file types, and the "flash over substance" mindset of many web sites. Unfortunately, there is little choice - if you want to see the content on many of these sites you must have a player that recognizes what they offer. I find Windows Media Player "least obnoxious," and most versatile, of the players I use occasionally; although I can't address any differences you may find in a Mac version appropriate to your OS. I intensely dislike being forced, on rare occasions, to use Real Player (the latest version is now called Real/One) due to the extended "Shatner Moment" while it prevents you from opening the file you want while it displays a series of "demands" that you "upgrade" to it's latest versions, and then insists on connecting to it's own selection of media offerings before it allows you to open a file ... but it will play the .wmv and .wav files, and a couple of other more exotic ones. Although I have it on my machine, I usually just skip looking at site content that demands Quick Time, for similar reasons. A particular problem with Quick Time content is that you (or at least I) nearly always get a demand to "install Quick Time" - independent of what version you already have - and it frequently will overwrite your installation with an older version if you're not very selective about permitting it to "do it's thing." (Some sites post .pdf files with the same sort of "auto-install pdf reader" demand.) Quick Time also has the nasty habit of changing your defaults to make itself the default for everything it thinks it can play, every time you open it. I don't know if it's still true, but in some older versions allowing it to set itself as default once set it to always change any media file types back to QT any time you used another player. With one notorious version, the only way to get back to using another player was to uninstall QT. (Because I use it so seldom, I can't say that Quick Time doesn't have a .wmv-capable codec available, so even it might be able to play the .wmv files if you really want to "work it." It does seem to be the Apple "core" player for media, but I think I'd dislike it even if that were not the case.) One might hope that the evolution of media players might eventually lead to being able to use one program for all file types; however, at present, Microsoft is being sued (again) for trying to do just that with Media Player. It's all in the (advertising) $$$$$$$$. John |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: JohnInKansas Date: 22 Dec 03 - 06:55 PM Apologies for the inadvertent "slang" reference to Shatner Moment in the previous post. You can get a pdf of one recent Microspeak Dictionary (pdf) here. Some folk might also like to look up blamestorming while it's at hand, since we seem to engage that activity occasionally here (but of course, only in the BS stuff below). John |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Bev and Jerry Date: 22 Dec 03 - 07:04 PM We opted for a WAV file because we didn't know any better. When we get a chance we may change it to MP3. Is there a simple way we can offer the file in more than one format so the client's computer can select the one it likes? Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: JohnInKansas Date: 22 Dec 03 - 07:35 PM The IRS and the USPS just offer a choice of "clickies" on a few pages. Click one, you get a web page, click the other you get a pdf. It takes a little more page space, and of course server space for the separate versions; but it seems pretty straight forward. I have to apologize again for the slang. The link above is not working, at least at the moment. A few extracts for the curious: Shatner Moment: When a program has behaviour characterized by abnormally long pauses, alternated with rapid-fire delivery of some of what you typed— when ........... your typ ........ ing comes ............... in ........ bursts, because ....... your email program .......... is ......... dying .................... .network ............... slow.....can't ................... contin ...... Blamestorming: Sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible. Crapplet: A badly written or profoundly useless applet. "I just wasted 30 minutes downloading this stinkin' crapplet!" like some pages discussed peripherally above? Dancing Baloney: Little animated GIFs and other Web F/X that are useless and serve simply to impress clients. "This page is kinda dull. Maybe a little dancing baloney will help." Dorito Syndrome: Feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction triggered by addictive substances that lack nutritional content. "I just spent six hours surfing the Web, and now I've got a bad case of Dorito Syndrome." Or you've been to several sites and can't play any of their links? Irritainment: Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying, but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. Ohnosecond: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a big mistake. Like posting a non-working link? Percussive Maintenance: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again. Vulcan Nerve Pinch: The taxing hand position required to reach all of the appropriate keys for certain commands. For instance, the warm reboot for a Mac II computer involves simultaneously pressing the Control key, the Command key, the Return key, and the Power On key. No comment, this is a Mac thread? John |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: Amos Date: 22 Dec 03 - 07:52 PM You put both source files up on the server and two links, one coded to point to one, and another coded to point to the other. A |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: GUEST,Jon Date: 23 Dec 03 - 09:37 AM As Amos says... All you need is 2 links instead of 1. I do wonder about the need to support .wav though. Perhaps someone with better knowledge over audio files than me can advise. Although I have spent some time looking at sound formats such as MIDI and abc for the Internet, this is an area I have not explored. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Can a MAC read .wav files? From: M.Ted Date: 23 Dec 03 - 05:26 PM Just for the purposes of being succinct--MAC can run .wav files just as easily as any other kind of music file. No problem, no difference. You just need a player, such as Quicktime--for earlier versions, back to OS 7.0, there is a great freeware player/converter program called SoundApp, available here: SoundApp . Nice thing about this program is that you can mix file types, including midi's, in the play list. Good thing about wav files, it is easy to make them whatever size you want them to be. I've got some files of old 45's that are less that a meg--not necessarily the fattest sound around, but very listenable, and very helpful if you want to put a lot of files on your website, but don't have a lot of space for them on your server-- |
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