need help fast with music files in Powerpoint

[Jane Austin]

I am new to Powerpoint but have spent several hours setting up a 68
slide presentation with 10 different songs playing across slides for
an special anniversary. being new i had not realised that music files
don't embed they just link so as soon as I moved the presentation to a
CD to take to the computer it will be played from i had,of course no
music! I read the info on linking files from the same directory so I
copied all 10 songs to the same directory as the presentation. Then I
deleted the first song link off of the first slide and inserted
instead a copy from the new directory. I tested it but it doesn't play
(the song does play if double clicked directly in the directory so it
is there and working)

I need fast help to find out what I did wrong!

Even if I right click on the sound icon (the new one inserted) and
choose play file nothing plays. I made sure all the settings were the
same as they were previously so I am at a loss.

I had hoped I could simply edit the sound icon to change the location
it looked for it but it doesn't seem to be that easy.

Any help will be gratefully received!!

 

[Sonia]

What version of PowerPoint are you using to create the presentation? Are
you testing in the same version, a different version, or the Viewer?

 

[Jane Austin]

What version of PowerPoint are you using to create the presentation? Are
you testing in the same version, a different version, or the Viewer?

I'm using PowerPoint 2003 and not using the viewer at all. I'm trying
to make the change directly in PowerPoint 2003

 

[Sonia]

So the music file worked from the original location, but not from the new
location? At this point, are you testing the version on the hard drive, or
have you burned a new CD and you're testing the version on the CD?

 

[Jane Austin]

I hope you don't mind wading through this. I will try to be very clear

I embedded a music file from D:\Mp3 Files\nameofsong.mp3 This link
works fine. (for all 10 different songs I did this with)

I hadn't realised that these were not embedded just linked.
I copied the .ppt file to a different computer which is when I
discovered the problem since there was no audio

So I went back to the original file on the original computer. I copied
the song nameofsong.mp3 to the same directory as the ppt file. I then
deleted the link on the file to the song in the D:\ directory and then
inserted a new song linking to C:\nameofsong.mp3 and set the timing
etc the same way.

Now I playthe slide show to test it but no sound plays.

I went to C:\nameofsong.mp3 and double clicked. It plays fine.

So wwhy doesn't the new link play? Even if I right click the sound
icon and choose play the sound it doesn't play.

I don't know what is wrong. I've deleted and inserted several times
with the same result

 

[Sonia]

I would try fixing all of them and see if any of them play. It may be
something specific to just this one file.

 

[Jane Austin]

Youare right. I've tried it with one or two other songs and it works.
However this first one is pretty important. Now I can't figure out
what could possibly be different with this one when all the others
work!

 

[Jane Austin]

I finally solved this issue having found this rather obscure fact on
the web

In at least some versions of PowerPoint, links to sounds (and
possibly other file types) will break if the total path to the file (
ie, the C:\My Documents\My Sounds\My Sounds Of My
Baby\Gurgling\GooGooGahGah.WAV ) is longer than 122 characters

Too bad this isn't written anywhere in PowePoint's own help files!

 

[Echo S]

Nice detective work. Thanks for following up with that information, Jane.

 

[John Langhans [MSFT]]

[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]

Hello Jane,

If you are using PowerPoint, did you use the "Package for CD" feature to
burn your presentation to CD (it should have, by default, included your
linked sound files)?

John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows

For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of any included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm

 

[Jane Austin]

At this point I was simply testing the presentation on a second
computer before burning it to CD. I will try the "Package for CD"
feature next. Thanks

It was a fluke that I found out the character limit. Some songs played
fine ad others didn't. It just happened to catch my eye that the ones
that didn't had longer file names. Of course the filenames themselves
were exactly the same as before which was confusing to me but it was
the complte path that was longer
eg D:\mp3\name of song.mp3
to
C:\Documents and settings\username\My Documents\Powerpoint
Presentation\nameofsong.mp3 9where the filename bumped up the
characters over the limit.

There was only one link on the web after hours of research that even
refered to the character limitation in a path. I would have thought
this might have come up more often - this is my first PowerPoint
presentation!

Anyway problem recognized and solved by shortening the song name.
Odd little glitch though that might require a patch at some point

 

[mikewild2000]

The best way to embed quality .wav files is to re-encode them (you can
use the windows sound recorder utility) in a sound editor using the
ADPCM codec. Use 4bit 44100 stereo.
It will reduce the file size drastically and retain the quality.

Then under options and general tab reset the "link sounds with file
size greater than" box to a size greater than your new .wav file.

Then simply insert the new .wav file into ppt the nornal way.