tiny footprint .wav player?

[Wowbagger]

At times I want to play a .wav file - just a 3 second clip. Previously
there was an absolutely almost zero footprint .wav player in windows that
would pretty much immediately play the .wav file when I double clicked. Now
the .wav files are always played through Quicktime or MusicMatch or some
other bloated application that requires 20 times longer just to load the
application than it takes to play the actual .wav

What is the most efficient .wav player to use in XP Pro? Something that I
don't have to keep open all the time, something that will pretty much play
the .wav file immediately.

Even Windows Media Player takes up to 5-10 seconds to load... the smaller
versions were much better at this particular task.

 

[djs]

x-no-archive: yes

At times I want to play a .wav file - just a 3 second clip.
Previously there was an absolutely almost zero footprint .wav player
in windows that would pretty much immediately play the .wav file when
I double clicked. Now the .wav files are always played through
Quicktime or MusicMatch or some other bloated application that
requires 20 times longer just to load the application than it takes
to play the actual .wav

What is the most efficient .wav player to use in XP Pro? Something
that I don't have to keep open all the time, something that will
pretty much play the .wav file immediately.

Even Windows Media Player takes up to 5-10 seconds to load... the
smaller versions were much better at this particular task.

Media Player Classic 6.4.6.1:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1045531002

 

[Don Taylor]

x-no-archive: yes


Irfanview is smaller, faster, more bug-free and supports more different
formats than most anything I can imagine. It will be up and playing in
the blink of an eye. And it is free. Try comparing Irfanview and IE
for the speed of starting up and displaying a jpg file.

Now, ONLY because of the repeated disclaimers that Microsoft cannot
be responsible for the quality of AOL software
Microsoft cannot be responsible for the quality of Irfanview.
AND the author of Irfanview cannot be responsible for the quality
of Microsoft software.
Thank you

 

[L. A. Powell]

Try the MS provided .wav recorder and player. Look in

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\SNDREC32.EXE

 

[Wowbagger]

This could probably do the trick - any hope of a command line switch that
makes it play automatically instead of making me hit the play button? (And
even better still... close immediately after the wav plays)

 

[Maureen Goldman]

I was just pointing out a small,
simple, easy-to-use freebie for playing media files. Like IrfanView,
Media Player Classic has no installer. It doesn't get much simpler than
that.

Most people see "media player" and think of the current version.
Agreed that the 700K Media Player Classic download will do pretty much
what you want, without the bloat. I use it for my .wav files, also for
playing some .avi videos.

 

[Guest]

I have used something called QWAVE.
The current version is available at
http://www.sinnercomputing.com/Software.htm

You can also use sndrec32 /play /close insertyourwavefilename.here

|At times I want to play a .wav file - just a 3 second clip. Previously
|there was an absolutely almost zero footprint .wav player in windows that
|would pretty much immediately play the .wav file when I double clicked. Now
|the .wav files are always played through Quicktime or MusicMatch or some
|other bloated application that requires 20 times longer just to load the
|application than it takes to play the actual .wav
|
|What is the most efficient .wav player to use in XP Pro? Something that I
|don't have to keep open all the time, something that will pretty much play
|the .wav file immediately.
|
|Even Windows Media Player takes up to 5-10 seconds to load... the smaller
|versions were much better at this particular task.

 

[djs]

This could probably do the trick - any hope of a command line switch
that makes it play automatically instead of making me hit the play
button? (And even better still... close immediately after the wav
plays)

As I said before, you can't do that with sndrec32, but if you really
want play/exit functionality, you can do it with Media Player Classic
(freeware, and NOT Microsoft software) using the "/play /close" command
line options.

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1045531002

 

[Wowbagger]

What is the most efficient .wav player to use in XP Pro? Something that I
don't have to keep open all the time, something that will pretty much play
the .wav file immediately.

I suggest Sound recorder. Use the command line in the file association
(call it 'play' and set it as default) of
C:\Windows\system32\sndrec32.exe /play "%1"

I was able to associate the ..\sndred32.exe with the file type, but I can't
add the /play "%1" when I pick the file. How do I tweak that?

 

[Alex Nichol]

I was able to associate the ..\sndred32.exe with the file type, but I can't
add the /play "%1" when I pick the file. How do I tweak that?

You may find that the association in File Types does not have an
Advanced button (that and edit the Action is the usual way to add such
things). If not you will need to run regedit.exe , and chase down
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wav
looking at the Default in the right pane, probably soundrec - got to the
corresponding
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\soundrec\open\command

and in the right pane set the Default (double click it) to the command
line you want:
C:\Windows\system32\sndrec32.exe /play "%1" /close

(The /close, optional, will close it at the end of playing the file)


You can do more if you like (Advanced)
- at the shell highlighted, you can take File New - Key to make a play,
then again to make the key command, and set it up like that, while you
leave the open without the /play and /close, so as o use it for editing.
Then make the default of the shell level open or play according to taste
for the d-click of a file - the other will be on the r-click menu.