Hi,

I need help to read file information contained in WAVE file (such as
artist, track, author, genre, year etc.)...not in file name, but in
file. I tried with cool edit, but it cant read all of the information. I
don't even know how are these information called (mp3 has ID3), so i
have problems with query in google, cause i don't know what to look for.

Help please

thnx

"monar@work" wrote in message

Hi,

I need help to read file information contained in WAVE
file (such as artist, track, author, genre, year
etc.)...not in file name, but in file. I tried with cool
edit, but it cant read all of the information. I don't
even know how are these information called (mp3 has ID3),
so i have problems with query in google, cause i don't
know what to look for.

The .wav file format standard is sort of an open standard. It allows people
to put just about anything they want to into a .wav file. CoolEdit does a
pretty fair job of formatting much of this information, but obviously can't
handle everything that anybody thought to put into a file.

http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/wavefiles.html

monar@work wrote:
Hi,

I need help to read file information contained in WAVE file (such as
artist, track, author, genre, year etc.)...not in file name, but in
file. I tried with cool edit, but it cant read all of the
information. I don't even know how are these information called (mp3
has ID3), so i have problems with query in google, cause i don't know
what to look for.


There is not necessarily any such info in a WAV file. Such data is in
'user' areas of the file and it's use is specific to a particular
application, and would be ignored or misinterpreted by other applications.

geoff

Get a hex dump editor. You should see any of this kind of information in the
header as plain ascii text.

James. )

"monar@work" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I need help to read file information contained in WAVE file (such as
artist, track, author, genre, year etc.)...not in file name, but in
file. I tried with cool edit, but it cant read all of the information. I
don't even know how are these information called (mp3 has ID3), so i
have problems with query in google, cause i don't know what to look for.

Help please

thnx

James Lehman wrote:
I need help to read file information contained in WAVE file (such as
artist, track, author, genre, year etc.)...not in file name, but in
file. I tried with cool edit, but it cant read all of the information. I
don't even know how are these information called (mp3 has ID3), so i
have problems with query in google, cause i don't know what to look for.
Get a hex dump editor. You should see any of this kind of information in the
header as plain ascii text.

Not necessarily. WAVE files are RIFF format files, and the data in
them is collected into self-describing "chunks." The only stringent
requirement is that the 'fmt' chunk come first, and that contains
sample information such as sample rate, width, number of
and format, and NONE of it is in ASCII. For the kind of information
the original poster is after, there is no standard means of
storing it (one exception, probably not useful for him, noted
below). Often, it is plased in an 'info' chunk or such, and it could
be at the beginning of the file, it could be at the end, so finding
it with a hex dump utility could be difficult. Further, there is
no standardized use of these sorts of chunks. The only
consistent usage is of the 'fmt' chunk and the 'data' chunk
(the latter actually holds the audio data)..

That all being said, there are standards in place for some
professional applications. One example, which is probably not
what the poster needs, is AES46, a means of storing radio
traffic and routing information in WAVE files (see www.aes.org
or www.cartchunk.org).

Now, whatever chunks are there, all well-behaved wave applications
should have no problem handling files with unrecognized chunks.
Each chunk header has a 4-character identifier and a 4-byte chunk
length. If it doesn't recogize the chunk type, it looks at the chunk
length and knows where the next chunk is and just goes there.

And that being said, it's regrettable to note that not a small
number of wave application software is NOT "well-behaved."
One widespread example is that the convention is that the
'data' chunk should be the last chunk in the file, being the largest.
that means that informational chunks SHOULD be at the head.
Many applications, when they decide to add information, simply
append the new chuncks to the end of the file, leading to the
problem I describe at the top.

The bottom line for the original question is that there ARE ways
to do whatv the poster wants, but, in the realm of the described
application, there are, at best, only conventions, and often
incompatibile ones at that.

dpierce wrote ...
And that being said, it's regrettable to note that not a small
number of wave application software is NOT "well-behaved."
One widespread example is that the convention is that the
'data' chunk should be the last chunk in the file, being the largest.
that means that informational chunks SHOULD be at the head.
Many applications, when they decide to add information, simply
append the new chuncks to the end of the file,

And this seems like the likely cause of "Donald Sauter"s
"loud crack between tracks" problem currently being
discussed over on r.a.p

A program like the UNIX "strings" utility should be able to extract the
readable text strings regardless of where they occur in the file.

"artist, track, author, genre, year etc." is what the OP wants to see. These
things are all in plain ASCII and most definitely viewable in a hex dump.
You don't need to write 5 paragraphs to prove you are a pain in the ass. No
one cares.

James. )



wrote in message
oups.com...

James Lehman wrote:
I need help to read file information contained in WAVE file (such as
artist, track, author, genre, year etc.)...not in file name, but in
file. I tried with cool edit, but it cant read all of the information.
I
don't even know how are these information called (mp3 has ID3), so i
have problems with query in google, cause i don't know what to look
for.
Get a hex dump editor. You should see any of this kind of information in
the
header as plain ascii text.

Not necessarily. WAVE files are RIFF format files, and the data in
them is collected into self-describing "chunks." The only stringent
requirement is that the 'fmt' chunk come first, and that contains
sample information such as sample rate, width, number of
and format, and NONE of it is in ASCII. For the kind of information
the original poster is after, there is no standard means of
storing it (one exception, probably not useful for him, noted
below). Often, it is plased in an 'info' chunk or such, and it could
be at the beginning of the file, it could be at the end, so finding
it with a hex dump utility could be difficult. Further, there is
no standardized use of these sorts of chunks. The only
consistent usage is of the 'fmt' chunk and the 'data' chunk
(the latter actually holds the audio data)..

That all being said, there are standards in place for some
professional applications. One example, which is probably not
what the poster needs, is AES46, a means of storing radio
traffic and routing information in WAVE files (see www.aes.org
or www.cartchunk.org).

Now, whatever chunks are there, all well-behaved wave applications
should have no problem handling files with unrecognized chunks.
Each chunk header has a 4-character identifier and a 4-byte chunk
length. If it doesn't recogize the chunk type, it looks at the chunk
length and knows where the next chunk is and just goes there.

And that being said, it's regrettable to note that not a small
number of wave application software is NOT "well-behaved."
One widespread example is that the convention is that the
'data' chunk should be the last chunk in the file, being the largest.
that means that informational chunks SHOULD be at the head.
Many applications, when they decide to add information, simply
append the new chuncks to the end of the file, leading to the
problem I describe at the top.

The bottom line for the original question is that there ARE ways
to do whatv the poster wants, but, in the realm of the described
application, there are, at best, only conventions, and often
incompatibile ones at that.

monar wrote ...
I need help to read file information contained in WAVE file (such as
artist, track, author, genre, year etc.)...not in file name, but in
file. I tried with cool edit, but it cant read all of the information.
I don't even know how are these information called (mp3 has ID3), so i
have problems with query in google, cause i don't know what to look
for.

WAV is one form of a "RIFF" file. (AVI is another).

Google returned 228,000 hits for: riff viewer
including this one at the top of the list...
http://f4ahw.free.fr/pub/RIFFview/RIFFview.htm

James Lehman wrote:
"artist, track, author, genre, year etc." is what the OP wants to
see. These things are all in plain ASCII and most definitely viewable
in a hex dump. You don't need to write 5 paragraphs to prove you are
a pain in the ass. No one cares.

James. )

You might care if you change one byte and the file no longer opens.

geoff

Anyone who doesn't know how to look at the contents of a file without
altering it deserves the results.

James. )


"Geoff@home" wrote in message
...
James Lehman wrote:
"artist, track, author, genre, year etc." is what the OP wants to
see. These things are all in plain ASCII and most definitely viewable
in a hex dump. You don't need to write 5 paragraphs to prove you are
a pain in the ass. No one cares.

James. )

You might care if you change one byte and the file no longer opens.

geoff

On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 11:42:14 +1200, "Geoff@home"
wrote:

You might care if you change one byte and the file no longer opens.

Why would looking at the file change any bytes?

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
"Geoff@home" wrote:
You might care if you change one byte and the file
no longer opens.

Why would looking at the file change any bytes?

Depends on what you are using to "look" at the file.
Some applications make certain assumptions about
the content/format of the file and automatically "re-
format" the file to the "standard format". That will
make a hash out of some kinds of files.

It has happened to me and I know better. It is a
significant hazard for people who aren't warned.

You know, for the ultra paranoid, there is a way to set the attributes of
the file to be "read only", before attempting to open it in any application.
Even DOS has this capability. Then there is always the old standby of making
a backup.

James. )


"Richard Crowley" wrote in message
...
"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
"Geoff@home" wrote:
You might care if you change one byte and the file
no longer opens.

Why would looking at the file change any bytes?

Depends on what you are using to "look" at the file.
Some applications make certain assumptions about
the content/format of the file and automatically "re-
format" the file to the "standard format". That will
make a hash out of some kinds of files.

It has happened to me and I know better. It is a
significant hazard for people who aren't warned.

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 11:42:14 +1200, "Geoff@home"
wrote:

You might care if you change one byte and the file no longer opens.

Why would looking at the file change any bytes?

Sorry, I thought the object was to read and edit some ASCII text inside the
file. Been a while...

geoff