Need Help: older wav file

[killer_carlson]

Good day (eh)

I have a wav file from 2009, put onto a cd and emailed to me in 2010. It is a voicemail but has strong sentimental value to me.

I recently tried to listen to it (it has been a few years) only to find out that it does not work. When I click on it, it says:

Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing this file.

I've had my computer tech try and recover them, but he has come up empty.

They are small files (52kb or so) and it is only like a 10 second recording.

Anyone have expertise or suggestions on this?

-KC

[Raekwon]

Maybe disc rot?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot

[nik-]

you tried vlc player? (not that I think it will matter, but who knows)

[killer_carlson]

shouldn't be disc rot as it happens to the versions I had stored on my yahoo account as well.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Maybe disc rot?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot

That'd be my thought too.

Something that reads the CD directly might work, to be able to pull out the data as best it can anyway, then you might get most of the file except for a bit of noise (or if the header is corrupt there might be an app that rebuilds it).

Something like this:
http://www.cdroller.com/htm/reader.html
http://www.oemailrecovery.com/cd_recovery.html
http://safecopy.sourceforge.net/

Also +1 for VLC, but it sounds more like the file isn't being read of the CD properly.

[photon]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

shouldn't be disc rot as it happens to the versions I had stored on my yahoo account as well.

Oh, then yeah try VLC media player.

EDIT: And if VLC doesn't play it, you could try winamp. If neither do then it's not a straight WAV file which means we'd need to figure out what CODEC was used to create the file. You said it was a voicemail, did it come from an actual voicemail system? Don't suppose you'd know which one?

[To Be Quite Honest]

If you want to send it to me I have a lot of codecs plugged into my machine. I could at least try to convert it for you.

[killer_carlson]

Pm

[Raekwon]

If TBQH gets it working might I suggest a new computer tech also I'd be willing to give it a shot also, I obsess about things that should work but don't.

[photon]

http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo

That app should be able to tell what codec it's using.

[To Be Quite Honest]

It's a CELP codec which is used by Philips recorder devices. I've been searching for hours trying to find a codec let alone a converter.

There is a free audio converter called Switch Sound which can work well most of the time but for some reason it doesn't work well here.

Tried https://www.dictation.philips.com/home/?redir=none to find software that will at least play the file, but that didn't work either.

My thought was to find a physical Philips player and place the files in there and play them back and record that. Like a voicemail machine. Thoughts anyone?

[ken0042]

What about going really old school- like Windows 9x sound recorder or Winamp? Is it possible the codec is simply to keep it proprietary; and by using old software that pre-dates it by that much it won't care?

Just thinking to the early 2000s when I could rip a copy protected music CD using Windows 3.1

[photon]

How's your C?

http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/comp.sp...celp-3.2a.html

[photon]

Hm, seems it's part of the MPG-4 spec:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_3

I don't know enough about how codecs and data and containers work.

Lol rename it to mp4 and play it. Actually I'm serious rename it and open it in VLC, some of the VLC source code mentions CELP. I'd try some other players too, like mplayer and foobar2000

There's this: http://www.speex.org/ but it says "based on" CELP. Speex says this site supports their codec, maybe try to convert it here: http://media.io/

http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums//lo...00/t33829.html

This is supposed to be able to play CELP files:

http://download.chip.eu/en/Philips-P....0_164955.html

That thread also says Windows Media Player 9 included ACELP.net, maybe that's why kc used to be able to play them but can't now. Anyone have a Vista box or something with Media Player 9?

Or maybe a download would work? I'd download it to a virtual machine or something.

http://www.oldapps.com/windows_media...media_player=6

Or maybe just downloading the codec? No idea if this would work on anything modern or even if it would install or how to install it:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Acelp_net_Codec.htm

[rbochan]

Might try Audacity.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[To Be Quite Honest]

Ya, I've tried many players, and it seems that this CODEC is a nightmare for everyone. Most discussions on it are from 2002-2006. I'll hop on it again this afternoon. There were some players that would work for this CODEC but that haven't been in operation since 2007 and are no longer supported and the download links are removed. http://mpeg4ip.sourceforge.net/downloads/index.php

Found these but I have no idea how to use them.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Speex.htm
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/...udio_Codec.htm

I was thinking of changing the extension as well. It works for some mkv's.

Looks like we've been searching in similar places Photon... I'll try that player later today.

[photon]

Other options would be to post on Hydrogenaudio forums and hope someone with the knowhow can help, or to try getting in contact with Philips directly to see if someone there can help.

[Hack&Lube]

This guy sounds like he was able to play back CELP recordings, just not batch convert them.

http://ffmpeg.gusari.org/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1304

[killer_carlson]

Really appreciate the help.

I'd prefer not to post it on a forum I am not familiar with. It is a very personal voicemail - nothing salacious mind you - with strong sentimental attachments to it. It would not be appropriate to post generally to a site that I have no experience or trust in.

Would digging up an old computer be something to try? I can try to find a laptop that might be a few years old.

[photon]

Might be worth it, you say you used to be able to play it no problem, and what I found suggests that Windows Media Player 9 can play it.