File plays in iRiver 1.29k fw but not in Rockbox daily build

[Eric Draven]

First post to the forums!  Hi everybody!

I'm forced to post a question because I just realized that my issue is something terribly hard to search the forums for (because the terms to describe it are too general)    Most of the search results I got were too vague and were not close enough to what I was looking for, hence, this posting.

Environment:  
iRiver H340, dual-boot iRiver 1.29K fw/Rockbox 20061016 daily build

Problem Description:  
File does not play in Rockbox, regardless of loaded theme or "Files Supported" selection.

Details:
I recently noticed that the files in question (several of them in a folder, MP3 format about 192kbps) will not play whether I select them from the ID3 browser, or directly from the folder structure.  The WPS briefly displays the file's tag info but does not play, instead continuing on to the next song and playing that.  The very same files play normally when 1.29K is loaded.  Unsure of whether this occurred just now within the Oct 2006 builds or not.

Does anyone have an idea of why this happens?  Or should I give more info on some other settings I may have missed?  TIA!

[LinusN]

1) Make sure you use the latest CVS build

2) Make sure you have installed it correctly

3) Reset the settings

If it still doesn't work, let us have a file for analysis.

[Eric Draven]

Ok, I'll go get the CVS build and give more feedback later.  Maybe same time tomorrow as I have a different player with me right now.  Forgot to say that I've only d'loaded daily builds so far and that I first saw the problem with the 2006-10-14 build.  Crossing my fingers that I don't mess up my first CVS build application.

What file do I have to send for analysis if it doesn't go well?  Thanks a heap, man!

[Mmmm]

 Crossing my fingers that I don't mess up my first CVS build application.

No need for all that finger crossing, just download your build from HERE.

What file do I have to send for analysis if it doesn't go well?  Thanks a heap, man!

The music file that won't play.

[Eric Draven]

Hi!  Just looked at the link and realized what it is.  I have no experience generating builds (this involves some compiling, am I correct?)   is there still a way to remedy the situation?  TIA!

[bascule]

Hi!  Just looked at the link and realized what it is.  I have no experience generating builds (this involves some compiling, am I correct?)   is there still a way to remedy the situation?  TIA!

No, you are not correct. CVS builds are exactly the same as daily builds. Download and install in the same way.

[Eric Draven]

OK, thanks.  I'll get the build now.  Feedback tomorrow.  G'day!

[Eric Draven]

I'm back...

Got the latest CVS build, installed and checked, reset settings, then tried to play the file in question.  Still won't play.  Noticed something else....

The folder contains around 100 songs, around 60+ of which won't play.  Not sure if I use the correct words here but, are there settings which affect how many files are loaded into memory and thus playable?  I'm not sure why that many files won't play in the CVS build while they play just fine in the 1.29K iRiver FW.

[LinusN]

Try this: copy one of the files that doesn't work to a separate folder and see if you can play it from there. If it still doesn't work, please let us have the file for analysis.

[Eric Draven]

Placed file in a separate folder on its own and it still does not play.  Also noticed that the files that play in both Rockbox and 1.29K also play in Winamp 5.3, while the files that don't play in Rockbox do NOT play in WMP v10 either.  I compared a file that plays and another that doesn't, both are 160kbps MPEG 1 Layer 3 files at 44100 freq.  Perhaps I should send one of each?  How do I send them?

Oh, and thanks for the patience.  I really appreciate it!

[bluebrother]

If you are running linux you could look at the output of the "file" command. I had several files that reported an id3v2 24.0 (!) tag that produced strange behaviour in amarok when reading the tags. Maybe it's related, I haven't tried these files on Rockbox yet. At least that file had definitely a broken id3 tag (and removing it fixed it in my case).

[Eric Draven]

@bluebrother,  I'm actually starting to suspect the files tag.  I'm on XP though, so I can't do what you ask.  I'll try clearing the id3 info too and see what happens.  If it doesn't do the trick, I'll have to take up Linus' offer and upload the file to him.  Thanks for the input though.  You just confirmed that there may be something to that tag info in the file.  Cheers!

[Eric Draven]

Cleared the ID3 tag info on the file and still won't play.  Sent the file to Linus earlier.  Hope to get news and hope too that this will help anyone else who's had the same issue.

[Lear]

Got a copy of the file from Linus. The problem isn't that uncommon really. MP3 files can include a CRC value for each frame. Problem is, some buggy program(s) never filled in any value there, so each frame get a CRC error, if the decoder checked that field. Some programs do, some programs don't.

At least for the software codec targets, we can decide if the CRC should be checked. I'm not sure what is best though. There are programs that can fix it too (like mp3check, a command line utility).

[Eric Draven]

Thanks Lear!  What kind of buggy programs can do that?  Do you mean the software initially used to rip the mp3, or maybe an id3 tagging program used on the file?  Those are the only things I recall I may have done to modify the file.  Also, am I correct in understanding that maybe both 1.29K fw and Winamp don't check that field, hence, they can play the file?

I'll look for the mp3check utility and see what it can do for the said file.  Thanks again!

Got a copy of the file from Linus. The problem isn't that uncommon really. MP3 files can include a CRC value for each frame. Problem is, some buggy program(s) never filled in any value there, so each frame get a CRC error, if the decoder checked that field. Some programs do, some programs don't.

At least for the software codec targets, we can decide if the CRC should be checked. I'm not sure what is best though. There are programs that can fix it too (like mp3check, a command line utility).