So, I still cannot open any older version of Audacity projects as this version on my imac i9 says “cant find wave so replacing with silence” which, if you dont mind me saying, is stupid, why doesnt it ask you to find the data???
I have hundreds of old projects that I now cannot open on this imac, the two replies I got from the previous post (which closes after 30 days???) I did take that advice, but unfortunately it didnt help. I would be very grateful if a programmer of the actual software could possibly tell me why my Audacity now with an i9 cannot find older version projects, yet others with i5 's can?
A while back I wrote “How to read an audiobook.” I assumed, unlike thousands of other How-To’s, that everything goes absolutely perfectly. It’s a short treatise. It’s ten sentences including the last one which is “Go make dinner.”
Nowhere in the document do you save an Audacity Project. At the beginning, you get to the end of a raw chapter read and export a WAV (Microsoft) protection sound file.
After editing and corrections, you export the Edit Master WAV and only then the MP3 submission file.
The WAV files are the archive, not the sub-quality MP3 or brittle Audacity Projects.
While we wait for the Audacity Development Team, I would start opening up the Projects and exporting them as WAV (Microsoft) Files, if possible. If the shows are multi-channel, complex monsters, you will not be able to do that, but if the shows are relatively simple mono or stereo, that may be the only reliable way to bring the works forward onto modern machines.
Audacity doesn’t get along well with external storage. We may have told you that already. It’s not that it fails, it’s just unpredictable and unstable.
Note that the latest Audacity versions do support external storage, but they do it on carefully controlled custom systems and services, not just spraying data down the computer’s USB cable or network line.
1 I cant export them as wave files… because as I posted earlier, it cant find the wave, so it inserts BLANK waves.
2) I have never had a problem with Audacity and external drives in the years I have used it, in fact, the external drive that im refering to, the projects are ac cessable on my Mac Book Pro, and my old imac never had a problem with it eithert, its just this new version on the new imac i9… and I have tried installing older versions and thats no help.
All I want, is to be able to use my new mac with my old projects, as I can with my mac book pro (which has new audacity running old projects
I just dont know why developers, dont think about retro fit type stuff… it really beggers belief that people just build new stuff and think “**** the old stuff” and thats just plain wrong. technological advance should not come at the cost of the user… its supposed to make it better, Im not blaming anyone cause I dont know if this is apple or Audacity… but people need to see THE BIGGER PICTURE for a change instead of working in silos
If the works won’t open up on any machine, then this doesn’t look good. That may be the end of those shows.
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I recently got burned with the update/upgrade thing. I wasn’t paying attention to the interactions and now I have some machines that won’t transfer work to others without awkward, time-consuming, painful workarounds.
I know what I’m supposed to do. Go out and buy everything new.
I know you’re waiting for us to tell you which button to push to make it all better. Not so far. Audacity Projects have been an uncomfortable reality forever. Search the forum for “My Projects Won’t Open!”
Also see:
If the real goal is to recover the works, the conversion to WAV for archive may be the best bet. There are other optional file formats, but WAV (Microsoft) is the most universal and robust.