Audio file from CD in PowerPoint prematurely stops

[Hearne Preacher]

PowerPoint 2003 (Office Small Business Edition) / When I insert an audio file
from a CD into the presentation, I input in Custom Animation/Effect how many
slides the song should play through. The slides are manually clicked (with
the words of the song on the slides). At random times, the audio file will
stop prematurely. I always rehearse them ahead of time. Sometimes, each
song plays completely through and other times it will stop. It seems this is
just a glitch in PowerPoint. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Echo S]

You're not backing up to slides, are you?

When you say you "reharse" them, does that mean you're using the "rehearse
timings" thing?

 

[Hearne Preacher]

No, I'm not backing up to slides. When I say I'm rehearsing, what I mean is
that I run through the program to make sure everything is working.
Sometimes, it plays through just fine, but then, when I'm actually doing the
presentation later, it will stop prematurely. I might mention that I am
using Windows Media Player version 10 (since one post said that the problem
with PP 2003 doing this is because some were using version 7.0).

You're not backing up to slides, are you?

When you say you "reharse" them, does that mean you're using the "rehearse
timings" thing?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

PowerPoint 2003 (Office Small Business Edition) / When I insert an audio
file
from a CD into the presentation, I input in Custom Animation/Effect how
many
slides the song should play through. The slides are manually clicked
(with
the words of the song on the slides). At random times, the audio file
will
stop prematurely. I always rehearse them ahead of time. Sometimes, each
song plays completely through and other times it will stop. It seems this
is
just a glitch in PowerPoint. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Echo S]

Okay, thanks for the info. I was asking because PPT considers each
transition a "slide" in the Custom Animation Effects options dialog -- so if
you set the sound to play across, say, 10 slides, but you were going back
and forth between various slides, the sound would stop playing before you
actually got to slide 10. I wish that option said "stop playing after XXX
transitions" -- it would be more accurate.

There's also a "rehearse timings" thing that tends to cut sounds off, which
should explain why I was asking about that also.

That said, I'm not sure what else would cut the sounds off. Since it's
random, I'd be inclined to suspect maybe resources or a background
application (antivirus scan, backup utility, etc.) kicking in.

How did you insert the sound onto your slide? Are you running the
presentation off your hard drive or off a CD or other removable media?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

No, I'm not backing up to slides. When I say I'm rehearsing, what I mean
is
that I run through the program to make sure everything is working.
Sometimes, it plays through just fine, but then, when I'm actually doing
the
presentation later, it will stop prematurely. I might mention that I am
using Windows Media Player version 10 (since one post said that the
problem
with PP 2003 doing this is because some were using version 7.0).

You're not backing up to slides, are you?

When you say you "reharse" them, does that mean you're using the
"rehearse
timings" thing?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

PowerPoint 2003 (Office Small Business Edition) / When I insert an
audio
file
from a CD into the presentation, I input in Custom Animation/Effect how
many
slides the song should play through. The slides are manually clicked
(with
the words of the song on the slides). At random times, the audio file
will
stop prematurely. I always rehearse them ahead of time. Sometimes,
each
song plays completely through and other times it will stop. It seems
this
is
just a glitch in PowerPoint. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Hearne Preacher]

You asked, "How did you insert the sound onto your slide?" Let's say I have
4 songs out of 8 that will be using a sound track. I burn those off of my
hard drive onto a CD. Then I go to the first slide of the first song,
"Insert / Movie or Sound / Play CD Audio Track" and go from there. I've
tried inserting "Sound from file", but I can't get them to play (even though
all of the settings are the same as when doing it from a CD). By the way,
thanks for replying.

Okay, thanks for the info. I was asking because PPT considers each
transition a "slide" in the Custom Animation Effects options dialog -- so if
you set the sound to play across, say, 10 slides, but you were going back
and forth between various slides, the sound would stop playing before you
actually got to slide 10. I wish that option said "stop playing after XXX
transitions" -- it would be more accurate.

There's also a "rehearse timings" thing that tends to cut sounds off, which
should explain why I was asking about that also.

That said, I'm not sure what else would cut the sounds off. Since it's
random, I'd be inclined to suspect maybe resources or a background
application (antivirus scan, backup utility, etc.) kicking in.

How did you insert the sound onto your slide? Are you running the
presentation off your hard drive or off a CD or other removable media?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

No, I'm not backing up to slides. When I say I'm rehearsing, what I mean
is
that I run through the program to make sure everything is working.
Sometimes, it plays through just fine, but then, when I'm actually doing
the
presentation later, it will stop prematurely. I might mention that I am
using Windows Media Player version 10 (since one post said that the
problem
with PP 2003 doing this is because some were using version 7.0).

You're not backing up to slides, are you?

When you say you "reharse" them, does that mean you're using the
"rehearse
timings" thing?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com


message PowerPoint 2003 (Office Small Business Edition) / When I insert an
audio
file
from a CD into the presentation, I input in Custom Animation/Effect how
many
slides the song should play through. The slides are manually clicked
(with
the words of the song on the slides). At random times, the audio file
will
stop prematurely. I always rehearse them ahead of time. Sometimes,
each
song plays completely through and other times it will stop. It seems
this
is
just a glitch in PowerPoint. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Echo S]

Ahhhh. I suspect, then, it's an issue with playing from CD. Perhaps the CD
drive isn't very fast, or maybe it's dirty, or system resources are low so
it stops working, or something is going on to cause the system to quit
reading the CD. I think it may be difficult to pinpoint it if it happens
randomly, though.

Most people generally have better luck playing the audio from the hard drive
as opposed to the CD. And I think that might actually be easier to fix than
figuring out what the deal with the random stoppage from the CD is.

What happnes you you try Insert|Sound from File? Do you get an error
message, or do the sounds just not play? What kind of sound files are
they -- I'm guessing probably MP3, but maybe they're something else? Are
they iTunes, by chance?

You might want to try PFCMedia and see if resolves the issue with sound
files inserted from your hard drive. http://www.pfcmedia.com/ There's a free
2-week trial for download.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

You asked, "How did you insert the sound onto your slide?" Let's say I
have
4 songs out of 8 that will be using a sound track. I burn those off of my
hard drive onto a CD. Then I go to the first slide of the first song,
"Insert / Movie or Sound / Play CD Audio Track" and go from there. I've
tried inserting "Sound from file", but I can't get them to play (even
though
all of the settings are the same as when doing it from a CD). By the way,
thanks for replying.

Okay, thanks for the info. I was asking because PPT considers each
transition a "slide" in the Custom Animation Effects options dialog -- so
if
you set the sound to play across, say, 10 slides, but you were going back
and forth between various slides, the sound would stop playing before you
actually got to slide 10. I wish that option said "stop playing after XXX
transitions" -- it would be more accurate.

There's also a "rehearse timings" thing that tends to cut sounds off,
which
should explain why I was asking about that also.

That said, I'm not sure what else would cut the sounds off. Since it's
random, I'd be inclined to suspect maybe resources or a background
application (antivirus scan, backup utility, etc.) kicking in.

How did you insert the sound onto your slide? Are you running the
presentation off your hard drive or off a CD or other removable media?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

No, I'm not backing up to slides. When I say I'm rehearsing, what I
mean
is
that I run through the program to make sure everything is working.
Sometimes, it plays through just fine, but then, when I'm actually
doing
the
presentation later, it will stop prematurely. I might mention that I
am
using Windows Media Player version 10 (since one post said that the
problem
with PP 2003 doing this is because some were using version 7.0).

:

You're not backing up to slides, are you?

When you say you "reharse" them, does that mean you're using the
"rehearse
timings" thing?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com


message PowerPoint 2003 (Office Small Business Edition) / When I insert an
audio
file
from a CD into the presentation, I input in Custom Animation/Effect
how
many
slides the song should play through. The slides are manually
clicked
(with
the words of the song on the slides). At random times, the audio
file
will
stop prematurely. I always rehearse them ahead of time. Sometimes,
each
song plays completely through and other times it will stop. It
seems
this
is
just a glitch in PowerPoint. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Hearne Preacher]

You asked: "What happens when you try Insert/Sound from File? Do you get an
error message, or do the sounds just not play? What kind of sound files are
they... iTunes, by chance?"

I don't get any error message. It puts the sound file icon on the slide,
then I fix all the settings in Custom Animation, telling it also how many
slides to play through. But I never can get any sound. When I hit "Play" in
the Custom Animation box, the timeline goes as if it is playing, but I get no
sound. The files are Windows Media Audio files. I rip them from my personal
CDs onto the hard drive using Windows Media Player, v. 10.

Has anything I've said explained it yet? Thanks for the help!

Ahhhh. I suspect, then, it's an issue with playing from CD. Perhaps the CD
drive isn't very fast, or maybe it's dirty, or system resources are low so
it stops working, or something is going on to cause the system to quit
reading the CD. I think it may be difficult to pinpoint it if it happens
randomly, though.

Most people generally have better luck playing the audio from the hard drive
as opposed to the CD. And I think that might actually be easier to fix than
figuring out what the deal with the random stoppage from the CD is.

What happnes you you try Insert|Sound from File? Do you get an error
message, or do the sounds just not play? What kind of sound files are
they -- I'm guessing probably MP3, but maybe they're something else? Are
they iTunes, by chance?

You might want to try PFCMedia and see if resolves the issue with sound
files inserted from your hard drive. http://www.pfcmedia.com/ There's a free
2-week trial for download.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

You asked, "How did you insert the sound onto your slide?" Let's say I
have
4 songs out of 8 that will be using a sound track. I burn those off of my
hard drive onto a CD. Then I go to the first slide of the first song,
"Insert / Movie or Sound / Play CD Audio Track" and go from there. I've
tried inserting "Sound from file", but I can't get them to play (even
though
all of the settings are the same as when doing it from a CD). By the way,
thanks for replying.

Okay, thanks for the info. I was asking because PPT considers each
transition a "slide" in the Custom Animation Effects options dialog -- so
if
you set the sound to play across, say, 10 slides, but you were going back
and forth between various slides, the sound would stop playing before you
actually got to slide 10. I wish that option said "stop playing after XXX
transitions" -- it would be more accurate.

There's also a "rehearse timings" thing that tends to cut sounds off,
which
should explain why I was asking about that also.

That said, I'm not sure what else would cut the sounds off. Since it's
random, I'd be inclined to suspect maybe resources or a background
application (antivirus scan, backup utility, etc.) kicking in.

How did you insert the sound onto your slide? Are you running the
presentation off your hard drive or off a CD or other removable media?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com


message No, I'm not backing up to slides. When I say I'm rehearsing, what I
mean
is
that I run through the program to make sure everything is working.
Sometimes, it plays through just fine, but then, when I'm actually
doing
the
presentation later, it will stop prematurely. I might mention that I
am
using Windows Media Player version 10 (since one post said that the
problem
with PP 2003 doing this is because some were using version 7.0).

:

You're not backing up to slides, are you?

When you say you "reharse" them, does that mean you're using the
"rehearse
timings" thing?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com


message PowerPoint 2003 (Office Small Business Edition) / When I insert an
audio
file
from a CD into the presentation, I input in Custom Animation/Effect
how
many
slides the song should play through. The slides are manually
clicked
(with
the words of the song on the slides). At random times, the audio
file
will
stop prematurely. I always rehearse them ahead of time. Sometimes,
each
song plays completely through and other times it will stop. It
seems
this
is
just a glitch in PowerPoint. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Austin Myers]

I rip them from my personal

CDs onto the hard drive using Windows Media Player, v. 10.

Won't work. WMP includes the CD's DRM when it rips the music to the hard
drive. As PPT is a delivery method it won't allow you to use DRM protected
media.

 

[Hearne Preacher]

What do you mean "it won't allow..." 90% of the time, it works. It's just a
random occurence when it doesn't. Do you mean it "never will allow it" or
that it will be buggy?

 

[Echo S]

The other 10% of CDs might have some copyright stuff built in, and WMP won't
let you use (in PPT) ripped songs from the CDs where it is built in. But if
the CDs won't play properly when you link to them as CD soundtracks playing
from CD, then I don't know that you have a choice but to find a sound ripper
that will let you insert them in the files. You might try
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/