problems with sound files

[patti]

i'm using powerpoint 2004 for mac that came as part of the microsoft
office 2004 mac student & teacher edition that i bought for my ibook
g4. i've inserted some songs (used aif format) and every time i
re-play the file, it seems they end on different slides. i tweaked
them (changed the media options under effect options under the custom
animation choice) and seem to have them about right (i.e. the first
song ends and the second song begins on the next slide). then i burned
a cd--actually, did this twice after more tweaking in between
them--and the songs don't end on the same slides as the master at all!
now there are 6-8 slides that have no music... i'm using a 2 second
random transition between slides. can anyone help? i'm trying to get
them to my family as a keepsake of our vacation and they're
growing old waiting on me LOL is there any way to link the 3 songs
together and not worry what slide they start on? any recs for
cheap/free audio editing programs to do this? thanks much in advance!!

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

PowerPoint doesn't synch slide changes to sound. While you can sometimes make
it work semi-reliably on a given computer, it takes luck and persistence.

It generally can't be counted on to work on other computers at all.

Your best bet, if the soundtrack lends itself to this, is to break it up into
single-slide sound bites and let the slide transition trigger each sound.

i'm using powerpoint 2004 for mac that came as part of the microsoft
office 2004 mac student & teacher edition that i bought for my ibook
g4. i've inserted some songs (used aif format) and every time i
re-play the file, it seems they end on different slides. i tweaked
them (changed the media options under effect options under the custom
animation choice) and seem to have them about right (i.e. the first
song ends and the second song begins on the next slide). then i burned
a cd--actually, did this twice after more tweaking in between
them--and the songs don't end on the same slides as the master at all!
now there are 6-8 slides that have no music... i'm using a 2 second
random transition between slides. can anyone help? i'm trying to get
them to my family as a keepsake of our vacation and they're
growing old waiting on me LOL is there any way to link the 3 songs
together and not worry what slide they start on? any recs for
cheap/free audio editing programs to do this? thanks much in advance!!

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Patti,

What Steve said....but also...

i'm using a 2 second random transition between slides.

Some transitions take longer than others.....Therefore you presentation make take x minutes to show the 1st time. The
next time you show it, it may take y minutes.

It might be more consistent to manually set each transition between the slides. It's a pain in the A to change
them....one quicker way is to

View > slide sorter
Zoom out a lot.
Then select a column of slides and assign them a transition
Repeat for other columns (changing the transition).
Then randomly give the odd slide a different transition

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints and tips etc
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

 

[patti]

thanks steve & taj... i'm not sure i can do what you recommended,
steve..."Your best bet, if the soundtrack lends itself to this, is to
break it up into single-slide sound bites and let the slide transition
trigger each sound." i don't really know how to do that...i have 3
separate songs--and i don't have any audio editing software.
so...i'll try the manual transition idea, taj, and hope that gets it
close enough for goverment work HA HA HA.

again, thanks for your help! i truly do appreciate it!!
patti

 

[Matthew Hindson]

and i don't have any audio editing software.

Try Audacity, it's free (and pretty good):

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Matthew

 

[patti]

Matthew...you are my HEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! thank you *so*
very much for telling me about audacity. i downloaded it & fumbled
through and it was exactly what i needed. you have saved my vacation
video. thanks so much for reading my question and taking the time to
post a reply. you've made a bunch of folks (my family--including me!)
very happy