Freesound Forums

I've been trying to use a few of the sounds I've downloaded, and I've discovered something strange.

Any sound that I downloaded as part of a pack works perfectly, regardless of bit rate, bit depth, or any other variable.

However, any sound file downloaded individually cannot be opened by any program. Some programs give me an error message, while others simply lock up or crash out.

The error codes I've gotten:
Audacity - Error: Mismatched tag at line 82
Quicktime Player - Operation could not be completed. (OSStatus error -208.)

Any thoughts on this?

I'm assuming it's *not* a software issue, as the issue arises only with individually downloaded files.

Also, checking some file info, I've found that sound files extracted from the pack .zip files show the number of channels, the duration, and the 'total bit rate' in the info panel. The individually downloaded copy of the same file lacks this information, and is also somewhat smaller - 20kb as opposed to 64kb (for comparison, I used http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=48670 downloaded individually and as part of the kodak pack.

I had this problem earlier this week with one or two individually downloaded samples using Firefox 3 under Windows XP. Try re-downloading one of the bad files while not downloading anything else simultaneously and see if that works. Also, what are your system specs and what browser are you using?

Some browsers (Firefox apparently) have a bug when you want to download a file through a php file. Instead of getting you the file you want, it simply downloads the php file. That's why your audio software can't read the files and you can't get info on it; it's a totally different file!
If you download a pack, the download links directly to the zip file, so there's no problem with that file.
The solution is to use a different browser, unfortunately. I personally use Opera. It works just fine

Hmm... It seems to work OK on mine (Firefox with Windows XP). If you upgrade Firefox (to 3.5) it might work.

Halleck: I only downloaded things one at a time (my web connection panics with more than one or two downloads at a time sometimes), but as was mentioned by nemoDaedalus, it's likely Firefox that's having the issue, pulling a php file rather than the audio file. As for my system specs - I'm willing to bet I'm in the vast minority, using an Apple laptop running Mac OS X 10.5.7 ... At least I'm not running PPC architecture system; if I can find my Windows XP install disc, I can bootcamp this thing. Oh, and my Firefox is version 3.0.12

nemoDaedalus: That's likely my problem, I'll test it here in a minute (once I decide whether to download Opera, or just use Safari ). I'll also be trying it with the latest Firefox version - it appears I've been slacking, I never noticed the major upgrade.

spazzo_1493: If only I knew where my install disc was...... >.>

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll be testing the download using another browser or an updated Firefox as soon as I have a minute.

Yeah, Safari should be fine too, I haven't had problems with it either.

Well, using Opera worked, though I didn't check Safari.

Firefox 3.5.1 still pulls the php files rather than the sound files, so it appears that I'll be using Opera to navigate this site.

Thanks again for all the help.

No prob, glad you can download the sounds now