Comments in saving a file

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

When I go to save audio and it takes me to this box of options where I can fill in the author, and other information,
there is a section called “comments”. I will just add a few words about what the saved audio file contains but my question
is, where or how do I see these comments I put in my audio file after it’s saved?

I can’t seem to find where I can read comments about my audio file.

Thanks.

2

That information is “metadata” embedded in the file. According to the file format you are exporting, you may be able to see that information in a media player like Windows Media Player or iTunes.


Gale

3

I exported it as a wav file. I don’t know how to now find the comments I typed about the file. Is there anyway without using media player or itunes?

4

You can read about metadata support for different file types here:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_opening_and_saving_files.html#meta.

You might be able to see your comments thus. Open Windows Explorer. Near top right there is a “Change your view” icon with a downwards-pointing triangle. Choose “Details” view. Right-click over one of the columns that appear. In the menu that opens, click to left of “Comments” to enable that column.

If you don’t see “Comments” in the list, click “More…” at the bottom of the list. A dialog opens where you can enable the “Comments” column.

Note there is no need for you to save metadata. The file will play without it.


Gale

5

You can view the comments in Windows Explorer; you should have the toolbar turned on so that the View menu is available (see the number 1 in red on the picture), otherwise, you must use the view selector which is an unlabeled icon with a drop-down menu. Choose the Details view for the folder which contains your WAV files. Your details will include a few columns like Name, Date etc.; right click on any of these column names (2) and choose the very last item (More…) On the resulting context menu (3). The resulting dialog will allow you to turn off/on those columns which interest you; they are presented in alphabetical order (except for those that are checked which are all grouped at the top).
comments.png

6

Sorry for duplicating Gale’s information! He and I were writing at the same time.

7

thanks to both of you for replying.
Yes, I found the option. Thanks. I guess this is the only
way to read the comments.

Maybe I should ask it another way? When I record 30 min talks and post-edit it
in audacity and render them to wav file output, can you recommend ways in which
I can make notes about what the topics were discussed in those files?

I could always just make a separate notepad file and make a directory with a table
of contents and manually write a summary of each audio file I made, but I thought there might be a better way to just include a summary of details of what’s on the recording on the actual file itself without writing it on the actual file name of the file itself, like “August 1 - 2016 - food, sports, friendship, travelling, fears and dreams.wav” lol. I would like to put those details somewhere else in the file but just name the file August 1 - 2016.wav

8

It’s the only way to read the comments metadata without looking in a media player or tags editor.

If you right-click the exported file, choose “Properties” then click “Details”, some metadata fields such as Year and Track # are shown there.

Metadata is the obvious way.

I use dBpoweramp (free if you don’t want to write MP3 files). It can display the metadata in a pop up when you select or hover over the item in Explorer.

There is an advanced version of WAV called Broadcast WAV that supports text labels inside the file. Audacity does not support writing or reading such embedded labels yet. Because those labels are supposed to be associated with particular regions of the waveform, typically you would open the WAV in an editor that supported Broadcast WAV in order to read the labels.

You can add labels in Audacity in a Label Track underneath the waveform and export the labels as a separate text file.


Gale

9

thanks!

10

Maybe I should ask it another way? When I record 30 min talks and post-edit it
in audacity and render them to wav file output, can you recommend ways in which
I can make notes about what the topics were discussed in those files?

There are players that support “lyrics” or “subtitles”.

The only formats I know of that are fully-standardized for this are DVD & Blu-Ray. i.e., With DVD authoring software that supports subtitles you can make an audio-only or slideshow DVD (or DVD-formatted files) that would play and show the subtitles on any DVD player or any DVD-player software.

Depending on your player you may not need this, but I use a plug-in called [u]MiniLyrics[/u] that works with many different players and supports synchronized or unsynchronized lyrics. MiniLyrics can embed the lyrics in the file for you or it can read from an .LRC file.