File Splits/Times Not Showing

[Dragon14]

Hi! I have recorded two podcasts with no trouble, (I am a newbie). I messed with the controls and now have a problem and have been reading over 3 hours today. I am using Windows XP and redownloaded Audicity 1.2.6 today to get the original settings back - it didn't work. Before I messed it up, I could record one total file and the minutes showed in the bar above the recording file and under the microphone and sound file. The minutes no longer show the minutes and shows -1.0, 0.00, 1.0. I tried to record one file and it separated into 1.02 files, about 20 of them. I want to have one "podcast" again instead of 20 little ones and see the time. What am I doing wrong? Thanks! Brenda

[waxcylinder]

When you save an Audacity project as <project_name> it creates a number of things

1. a top level master project file called <project_name>.aup
2. a folder at the same filing level called <project_name>_data
3. and within the folder a sub-folder structure with lots of little .au files - segments of the recording (mainly audio clips - but a couple of then are graphics files)

When you re-open a project with Audacity you should always open the <project_name>.aup top level file. This tells Audacity how to thread together all the little .au files. It is deliberately designed this way so that Audacity doesn't have to open and work with a single humungously large file, which would hamper performance. You should not be attempting to open or manipulate any individual .au files.

When you have finished editing your Audacity project you can Export it from Audacity as a WAV file or MP3 file depending what sound quality you wish to achieve. WAV files are around ten times larger than the equivalent MP3 files but are uncompressed and thus the audio quality is higher.

WC

[Dragon14]

Thanks! It worked!

[kozikowski]

You have discovered something that drives Audacity users nuts. Audacity maintains a Preferences file that you screw up when you screw up. That file is carefully preserved when you delete Audacity and install a fresh one. So you open up the fresh Audacity that you struggled so hard to download and install and find.....the old Audacity.

Audacity 1.2 hides the preferences in the Windows Registry from which there is no escape. Audacity 1.3 does it the way the Macs do and maintains a preference file you can trash to get a real fresh start.

Audacity > Preferences > Interface is the place where you turn your various work windows on and off.

Koz