First time user question

[Sonoran]

I have been asked by a friend to take an MP3 file & cut out parts of an interview he did on a local radio show.

I have installed Audacity 2.5.1 and opened the MP3 file. It is playing at twice the normal speed & I cannot figure out how to get it to slow down.

The timeline shows about 24 minutes in length and I know the whole show is 47 minutes. The file plays fine in iTunes & QuickTime.

What am I not doing right?

[steve]

There is no "Audacity 2.5.1"
If you are using Audacity 1.2.5 then you are using an obsolete version.

Download and install Audacity 1.3.9 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

[Sonoran]

You are right. I just checked & I am using the current version.

Can you help me with my problem?

[steve]

There are 2 "current versions" - 1.2.6 (stable - but very old) and 1.3.9 (beta in name, but is due to become the new 2.0 stable version next month). Audacity 1.3.9 is currently the recommended version.

There's probably something a bit "iffy" about that file - iTunes and QuickTime are only having to "play" the file, whereas Audacity needs to rip the thing apart into raw data so that it can process and edit it in all sorts of clever ways, which makes Audacity a lot more fussy about file formats.

Anyhow, if the file is playing at double speed - click on the name of the track, and on the drop down menu select "Set Rate". Change the rate to half of its current value and the track will now play half as fast as it did previously (which should be the correct speed).