Topic: wma files (Read 9407 times)

MusicMon · « **on:** December 27, 2006, 02:23:29 am »

For some reason I can not play some of my wma files with mc11. The same files I can play with wmp11 and foobar 2000. How do I resolve this issue?

KingSparta · « **Reply #1 on:** December 27, 2006, 05:03:56 pm »

Maybe upgrade to MC12, unless they update mc 11.1 to work with windows media 11 installed. this has been a normal problem as long as i can remember when microsoft updates it's players and codec files and MC11 install was built with old WM codec files.

Not sure if Microsoft has released the beta codec files yet.

MusicMon · « **Reply #2 on:** December 27, 2006, 05:05:05 pm »

I thought this forum was for support, king sparta, jimh, ......, where are you guys? Surely you must have some suggestions! I am certain J River support is not this tepid! Maybe they are on vacation!

KingSparta · « **Reply #3 on:** December 27, 2006, 05:11:43 pm »

I was having a early dinner at red lobster

Sweet Tea, Salad with ranch dressing, fish, shrimp, mashed potato's

It was good

Not sure what to tell you other than what i did, and waiting on Microsoft to release an update for companies like JRiver to Update there software.

jgreen · « **Reply #4 on:** December 27, 2006, 05:31:57 pm »

Are these WMA's DRM-protected? And the others that play, are they?

What kind of fish? Was the shrimp deep-fried?

modelmaker · « **Reply #5 on:** December 27, 2006, 05:32:19 pm »

Quote from: MusicMon on December 27, 2006, 05:05:05 pm

I thought this forum was for support, king sparta, jimh, ......, where are you guys? Surely you must have some suggestions! I am certain J River support is not this tepid! Maybe they are on vacation!

It is the Christmas/New Year holidays, and JRiver is also celebrating their 25th anniversary this week.

Some of the advanced users that do a lot of the support are in other parts of the world where they get several days off for the holidays and have probably gone skiing or to the Bahamas or something. The rest of us are trying to help out as best we can. Have a little patience

.

KingSparta · « **Reply #6 on:** December 27, 2006, 05:42:00 pm »

Quote

What kind of fish? Was the shrimp deep-fried?

At "Red Lobster" they serve Sole

Sole And Flounder are really one of the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_(fish)

My dad caught over 130 flounder back in the late 80's in one day (in the great egg harbor bay).

Blow Fish Is Good Also They are my two favorite fish, I Caught many blow fish when I was a kid, you need to make sure you skin them good because they have poison in the skin.

jgreen · « **Reply #7 on:** December 27, 2006, 08:07:38 pm »

I used to catch flounder as a kid, in Puget Sound. There isn't a lot of meat on them, considering the size of the flounder, but there are a heck of a lot of flounders out there.

MusicMon · « **Reply #8 on:** December 27, 2006, 08:26:13 pm »

Are these WMA's DRM-protected? And the others that play, are they?

No, they are not DRM-protected. Is there a way to attach a small file to emails so other people can test it as well?

KingSparta · « **Reply #9 on:** December 27, 2006, 09:04:20 pm »

Quote

Is there a way to attach a small file to emails so other people can test it as well?

Not in this forum.

you can put it on a hosted server, and a URL to the file.

MusicMon · « **Reply #10 on:** December 27, 2006, 09:12:38 pm »

is there a way of checking which versions wma MC11 does not play? Is it possible to update MC11 codec file to the most recent version?

MusicMon · « **Reply #11 on:** December 27, 2006, 09:55:17 pm »

I install MC12.0.130, it does not play the same wma files that MC11 DOES NOT play and foobar 2000 & WMP11 DO PLAY.

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** December 27, 2006, 10:41:38 pm »

Both MC11 and MC12 should play any WMA files you have, unless they are DRM protected files from someone else's collection.

MusicMon · « **Reply #13 on:** December 27, 2006, 11:19:11 pm »

I am sure that they not DRM protected.

KingSparta · « **Reply #14 on:** December 28, 2006, 05:27:33 am »

Quote from: MusicMon on December 27, 2006, 11:19:11 pm

I am sure that they not DRM protected.

you can upload them to me at ftp.spartasoft.com

send them to : 00 - Test Folder

UserName : mediacenter
Password : mediacenter

i will test them for you.

MusicMon · « **Reply #15 on:** December 28, 2006, 02:21:12 pm »

a small file was uploaded

KingSparta · « **Reply #16 on:** December 28, 2006, 02:40:37 pm »

Yes, I played it in Windows Media Player 11

It Played In:

1. Real Player
2. Music Match
3. Yahoo Player
4. iTunes Converts wma To Acc and plays it

It will not play in

1. Media Center 12

Media Center encountered errrors while trying to play the last several files. Please make sure that the path in your media library points to the right location.

It's the right location

also

2. Media Editor

Error decoding file

MusicMon · « **Reply #17 on:** December 28, 2006, 05:09:40 pm »

King, now that you confirmed the problem, where do we go from here? It would be a shame for me to have to stop using MCx and use WM11!

KingSparta · « **Reply #18 on:** December 28, 2006, 05:36:47 pm »

Quote

King, now that you confirmed the problem, where do we go from here?

well I am going to take a bath

I can't answer when it will be resolved or reveal any other Top Secret information (I don't have any).

I do know every time this issue does come up, they fix it.

MusicMon · « **Reply #19 on:** December 28, 2006, 05:45:50 pm »

King, enjoy your bath. Would you please send the file that I gave you to J River people so they can figure out what the problem is?

Alex B · « **Reply #20 on:** December 28, 2006, 07:33:01 pm »

I tried the sample file too. (I downloaded the sample from KingSparta's server, thanks King.)

MC 11.1 and 12 can't play it. The installed WM codec version doesn't matter. (I tried the WMP10 and WMP11 codec versions).

The file seems to be encoded with Windows Media 9.2 Lossless codec (WMP11 installs this version).

However, it is somehow different from the files that are encoded with MC12 or WMP11 (using the same codec version). I converted the sample file to Monkey's Audio with Foobar2000. Then I converted it back to WMA 9.2 Lossless with MC12. MC11.1 and MC12 have no playback problems with this file version. In addition, I made a version with WMP11 (I converted the file to wave and mounted it as a virtual CD-ROM and ripped the file WMP11). Also this file version works fine with both MC versions.

The samples are available here:

1. converted with foobar2000 from the original source file.ape

2. encoded with MC12.0.130 (Windows Media 9.2 Lossless).wma

3. encoded with WMP11 (Windows Media 9.2 Lossless).wma

Most likely the difference is in the file header. MusicMon, what program you used for encoding?

MusicMon · « **Reply #21 on:** December 28, 2006, 08:40:26 pm »

used EAC to extract files in WAV, then used EAC to compress the file to wma (lossless). Subsequently used Cue Splitter to create individual wma for each song.

Alex B · « **Reply #22 on:** December 30, 2006, 07:26:52 am »

I assume you mean Enfis The Paladin's Cue Splitter. Obviusly Cue Splitter uses Microsoft's Windows Media tools/commands for cutting wma files. MS provides a GUI program with Windows Media Encoder for using these functions (Windows Media Editor).

Windows Media Editor is not a sample accurate cutter and it does not create complete WM format specific attributes (tags). It cuts the tracks on the nearest "key frames" (according to the program help). Practically this means that the cut points can be a second or so off. It looks like Cue splitter cutted files are similarly not accurate.

The file headers that Cue Splitter produces are not complete. Some of the data is copied from the original file and some is not included at all.

For example, the original sample (by Cue Splitter):

Code: [Select]

Audio Codec: Windows Media Audio 9.2 Lossless
Format: VBR Quality 100, 44 kHz, 2 channel 16 bit 1-pass VBR
Protected: No
Seekable: Yes
Trusted: No

WMA Tag dump:
    Signature_Name: 
    Title: 23
    Author: George Bizet - Carmen (Disk 1)
    Copyright: 
    Description: Track 0
    Rating: 
    WM/Genre:  
    WM/AlbumTitle: George Bizet - Carmen - CD1
    WM/AlbumArtist: George Bizet - Carmen (Disk 1)
    WMFSDKVersion: 11.0.5721.5145
    Duration: 205730000
    Bitrate: 873950
    Seekable: Yes
    Stridable: No
    Broadcast: No
    Is_Protected: No
    Is_Trusted: No
    HasAudio: Yes
    HasImage: No
    HasScript: No
    HasVideo: No
    CurrentBitrate: 657849
    OptimalBitrate: 657849
    HasAttachedImages: No
    Can_Skip_Backward: No
    Can_Skip_Forward: No
    FileSize: 1608819
    HasArbitraryDataStream: No
    HasFileTransferStream: No
    WM/ContainerFormat: 1
    WM/TrackNumber: 23

and the same audio data after encoding it with MC12:

Code: [Select]

Audio Codec: Windows Media Audio 9.2 Lossless
Format: VBR Quality 100, 44 kHz, 2 channel 16 bit 1-pass VBR
Protected: No
Seekable: Yes
Trusted: No

WMA Tag dump:
    Signature_Name: 
    Title: 23
    Author: George Bizet - Carmen (Disk 1)
    Description: Track 0
    WMFSDKVersion: 11.0.5721.5145
    WMFSDKNeeded: 0.0.0.0000
    WM/EncodedBy: Media Center 12.0.130
    WM/ToolName: Media Center
    WM/ToolVersion: 12.0.130
    WM/TrackNumber: 23
    WM/AlbumTitle: George Bizet - Carmen - CD1
    Duration: 205260000
    Bitrate: 620224
    Seekable: Yes
    Stridable: No
    Broadcast: No
    Is_Protected: No
    Is_Trusted: No
    HasAudio: Yes
    HasImage: No
    HasScript: No
    HasVideo: No
    CurrentBitrate: 620224
    OptimalBitrate: 620224
    HasAttachedImages: No
    Can_Skip_Backward: No
    Can_Skip_Forward: No
    FileSize: 1600564
    HasArbitraryDataStream: No
    HasFileTransferStream: No
    WM/ContainerFormat: 1
    IsVBR: Yes
    WM/EncodingTime: 128118141702812500
    ASFLeakyBucketPairs: <unknown data>

I'd guess that MC's playback engine cannot interprete the incomplete or inaccurate attributes because it expects to see some of the missing data.

For now, as a workaround, you can convert the files as I did. (foobar: wma lossless => ape, MC12: ape => wma lossless).

Quote from: MusicMon on December 28, 2006, 08:40:26 pm

used EAC to extract files in WAV, then used EAC to compress the file to wma (lossless). Subsequently used Cue Splitter to create individual wma for each song.

Actually, why do you rip in disc image file & cue format and create two different WMA lossless versions (image file & separate track files)?

As far as I know, WMA lossless disc images are not commonly supported. Usually you must decompress or convert them to some other lossless format before burning CD audio discs or mounting the image files.

Perhaps some other workflow would be better for you. I'd be happy to help, but first I would need to know what exactly are your needs.

MusicMon · « **Reply #23 on:** December 31, 2006, 12:50:50 am »

I create am image file that in case that my original disk gets damaged I can recreate another one. I then convert them wma lossless tracks so I could tag them and listen to them on my computer and other digital devices. As far as I know there is no way of tagging wav tracks.

Alex B · « **Reply #24 on:** January 01, 2007, 07:03:03 am »

I create my disc image files in lossless Monkey's Audio (APE) format. It is directly supported in EAC. EAC can rip in APE + CUE format and also directly burn the APE + CUE files without first converting. (You need to have the "macdll.dll" file in your default search path. I have mine in C:\Windows\System32\ folder and EAC can use it correctly. I think that Monkey's Audio v.3.99 installed the needed files automatically. DL link: http://www.monkeysaudio.com/files/MAC_399F.exe)

MC has cue playback support, but conversions from cue files do not work properly because tagging is not supported (yet?). Personally I create APL files for my APE & CUE disc images. These small APL can files hold complete tagging and the APL format is fully supported in MC. (MakeAPL tool is included with the Monkey's Audio program. Alternatively foobar's APE plugin can create APL files).

From these master APE & CUE & APL archives I create converted files on the need basis. E.g. you can easily convert APL files to WMA lossless track files with MC12 (MC11.1 does not support encoding with the new WM v.9.2 lossless codec, so if you have installed WMP 11 you need to use MC12).

MusicMon · « **Reply #25 on:** January 09, 2007, 01:46:47 am »

Do you know of a software package that would split and compress wav+cue to lossless wma?

Alex B · « **Reply #26 on:** January 10, 2007, 06:52:34 am »

Perhaps Media Coder could do it. I have not tried it for this specific task, but it supports cue and also WMA Lossless if Windows Media Encoder is installed. More info: http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net

Another option would be to mount the wav & cue image as a virtual disc and simply rip this virtual disc with MC in WMA Lossless format. (MC12 is needed if WMP11 codecs are installed).

Daemon Tools is a freeware application that can mount CD images: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/index.php?

MusicMon · « **Reply #27 on:** January 16, 2007, 07:49:55 pm »

How do you mount wav+cue image as a virtual disk?

Alex B · « **Reply #28 on:** January 20, 2007, 07:50:30 am »

Quote from: MusicMon on January 16, 2007, 07:49:55 pm

How do you mount wav+cue image as a virtual disk?

Did you install Deamon Tools? Mounting a cue + wav image is easy. Follow the program documentation or check the Daemon Tools forum.

richmac · « **Reply #29 on:** March 04, 2007, 09:19:23 pm »

i have media center 11.1.201 95% of my files are wma i converted most all with windows xp plus...relatively cheap program, most of it is useless but the converter is great..& all my files play fine

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Author Topic: wma files (Read 9407 times)