I have used Audacity successfully since version 2.4 but all of a sudden tonight when I try to open an MP3 file created by my Olympus voice recorder (which i have done over 50 times before) I am getting errors. I saw a new update was available for Audacity 3.0 so I have updated to that but I still get an error which now says “import failed. This may be caused by an improper MP3 file”.
I can listen to the recording no problem on my voice recorder and also on my windows 10 pc.
Attached are the support logs before I upgraded to 3.0.
How can I fix this problem? Why has it suddenly appeared?
It still did not open the file. I just got the error.
I discovered there was an update released in the time between when I last used it and this time about 10 days
I saw that others were complaining about the same thing.
There were notes a while back about how deformed an MP3 had to be before Audacity would reject it.
MP3’s full family name is MPEG-1, Layer 3. It’s the sound channel to a video format.
Until recently, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft would collect royalties from any one creating an MP3 sound file. That’s why until recently, Audacity couldn’t create MP3 files by itself. Audacity is free and MP3 isn’t. I would not be shocked to find some manufacturers danced around the proper format to avoid paying those royalties.
I have just had a chance to try this now and yes they do open and import successfully. Seems somehow version 3 is blocking it as i haven’t made any change to the voice recorder settings and it hasn’t faulted. I recorded one on the 15th that worked fine then and still does and only a matter of days later on the 22nd March it failed to import.
I understand this is a helpdesk. I wish there was the ability to pay for access to support. I don’t mind paying for applications and support.
Audacity is such a fantastic application. I give the developers full marks!.