FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions

• How To Switch Memory Location For Recording
• What is the Palm User ID and where can I find it?
• Choppy Or Fast Recording
• Info for Mac Users for Palm OS Products
• SD Card Education
  
• SD Card Issues
• Using the Navigation Pad to Control Audacity
• File Location After Doing a HotSync
• Audio Types and Considerations - How Big Are the Files
• Speech Recognition Considerations
• Should I Upgrade to the Professional Edition?
• Treo 600 Firmware Requirements
• Notes for Treo 650 Users
• Recording Phone calls on a Treo 700P
• Recording Phone calls on a Treo 650
• Recording Phone Calls on a Treo 600
• One Button Quick Record
• Ordering Information
• Where are the Manuals?
• Can I Run Audacity From the SD Card?
• Why Don't I Hear Anything When I Play a File on a Treo?

How to Switch Memory Location for Recording

The upper left corner of the Audacity Home Screen shows the current memory location. It is either Internal Memory or SD Card. To switch the active memory to the opposite location, tap the square to the right of the red delete X on the tool bar.

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What is the Palm User ID and Where Can I Find It?

The Palm User ID is also known as the HotSync ID. It is used by many applications to associate a specific PDA to an application's registration code. It is both case and space sensitve. i.e. John Doe is not the same as john doe or John doe or John  Doe (two spaces between names). You can find it in the upper right-hand corner of the Palm HotSync screen. It is also displayed on the Audacity registration screen between <> brackets, i.e. <John Doe>. It is easier to spot extra spaces on the Audacity registration screen than on the Palm HotSync screen. You can reach the Audacity Registration screen by launching Audacity, tapping menu, and then selecting Registration from the menu.

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SD Card Issues

The quality of recordings made to an SD card are influenced by the write speed of the card. For this reason it is recommended that high speed SD card be used for best results. A card that is not fast enough will exhibit dropouts in the recorded audio. The audio might sound like it has been recorded too fast. If you suspect a problem, try switching to record on Internal Memory. If that solves the problem, you have a card that is too slow. You can either replace the card or you could try recording into a compressed format, like compressed 12 The amount of data is much smaller so less data is written to the card.

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Using the Navigation Pad

The Navigation Pad can be used for easy access to the recorder functions once Audacity has been launched. Audacity is designed to be used one-handed via the navigation pad. You may also tap the screen graphic to control the record functions, but most authors just use the graphic as a learning aide. The button functions / graphic change with the "mode" that Audacity is in. The 4 modes are:

1. Home--The Home Screen is displayed. No files are open.
2. Idle--A file is opened, but idle, and the record or playback screen is displayed.
3. Record--The file is being created.
4. Playback--The file is being played.

The default navigation pad settings are very intuitive and are learned quickly. The default list is displayed below:

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File Location after HotSync

The files are automatically transferred to the PC during a HotSync. To find where the Audacity Conduit put the files, click on the Palm HotSync icon in your PC system tray, lower right hand corner of screen. Then click Custom and look for either Audacity Personal files or Audacity file (Professional Version). Make a selection and then click Change. The destination folder on PC is displayed. The conduit log also provides detailed from and to locations for each file transferred.

The Personal Conduit will automatically decompress any compressed file so Windows Media or any standard Player will be able to play the file

The Professional Conduit transfers the files, both the WAV file and the Associated AWI file to C:\Program Files\AST\Incoming. When the LAM application runs, the files are first archived into an Archive folder prior to being changed. The files are then processed and put into a Recordings folder. Processing may involve many things like decompressing, decrypting, emailing, FTP'ing, etc.

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Audio Types and Considerations

Audacity provides you a choice of recording formats. There are two basic types, PCM formats and Compressed formats. PCM formats create standard WAV files that any player will play. Compressed formats require decompression before a player will play them. The Compressed formats make much smaller files however. Our compressed 6 format is less than 5% the size of a PCM 8 format. Also PCM 8 is only half the size of PCM 16. For speech recognition, I recommend PCM 16 or better although Dragon will work with PCM 11. Users do report good results with our Compressed 24 as well.

The bottom line is to experiment with different formats to see what is right for you, your hardware, and your application. These things all affect the right choice. That is why we offer a choice.

The Audacity Personal Conduit automatically decompresses the files as they are transferred to the PC. The LAM application does the same for the Professional. It can also be set to not decompress the files (for those sending the files to a remote location).

Compression takes a lot of processing power. That is why we don't offer all choices with all hardware models. Also, compression doesn't always work in certain situations. For instance on the Treo 700P, compression works fine with normal recordings, but not so good on telephone call recordings. The reason is during a telephone call the processor is busier than during a normal recording. It just can't keep up with all there is to do.

Audacity compression is very high quality for the file size. Try it and see if it is right for you. The following chart displays recording types versus file sizes.

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Speech Recognition Considerations

If you intend to process the files created by the Audacity Digital Voice Recorder through third-party speech recognition software (Dragon Naturally Speaking, ViaVoice, etc.), the following guidelines will help you to achieve excellent results.

Experiment with the sampling rate. In theory PCM 22kbps should give you the best results, although the file size gets very large. Also, PCM 22 is very sensitive to noise. Reducing the Mic sensitivity can minimize the problem. We suggest trying PCM 16kbps or PCM 11kbps.

The default Mic sensitivity is set for 7 (on a scale of 1 to 10). Seven works well if you hold the PDA 12 to 15 inches from your mouth. In a noisy or mobile environment this will probably pick up too much noise for good speech recognition. Try changing the setting to 3 or 4 and holding the PDA one inch from the corner of your mouth like a headset Mic would be positioned. This will minimize the outside noise. There are also some good noise canceling headsets, like the Boom "O" by UmeVoice.

Find a sampling rate and a Mic sensitivity setting that works well for you and your unit, and then stick with it. Make sure to hold the PDA at the same position each time you record. Consistency is the key. If you follow these guidelines, Audacity will give you excellent results.

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Should I Upgrade to the Professional Edition?

Click here for a chart comparing the features of the Personal vs. Professional editions. If you do serious dictation, then the Professional version is probably better suited to your needs. There will probably be at least one of the many features that will make the upgrade worth while.

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Recording Phone Calls on a Treo 700P

Audacity provides phone call recording on the Treo 700P. The call is recorded in the same audio type and to the same storage medium as your normal recordings. To record a phone call, receive or place the call in the same manner you normally do. When the call is answered (you must wait until the Palm call setup process completes. This is only a couple of seconds. You can tell because the Hold and keypad display), press and hold the record button for three seconds. This launches Audacity and initiates the recording. The red LED displays during recording. When the call completes, stop Audacity in the normal manner and return to the phone screen to hang up. You may also just wait for the remote party to hang up. A setup note: Set the Record button in Audacity Button Setup to be the same button that you set to launch Audacity in the Palm Preferences. I suggest using the side record button, as that button is the most accessible during a phone call.

On the recorded file list, a sound-file icon precedes all files. The icon for phone call files displays with a red background. The file name also begins with a "P" for Phone. The Audio File Information screen displays the message "Phone Call Recording".

Calls are recorded using your chosen audio setting. For instance, if you have selected Compressed 12, the file will be about 1 MB for a ten-minute call. It will write to the SD Card, if that is where you normally record. On the 700P Compressed 24 is not recommended. The 700P processor just can't keep up with the phone call along with the Audacity compression. Compressed 12 is marginal, but usable. Compressed 6 works fine as do any of the PCM formats.

If the near or far end of the call is consistently louder than the other end, the balance can be adjusted by going to Options, Preferences, and under Mic Gain, choose the Phone pulldown. The near and far end mic gain can be individually adjusted.

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Recording Phone Calls on a Treo 650

Audacity provides phone call recording on the Treo 650. The call is recorded in the same audio type and to the same storage medium as your normal recordings. To record a phone call, receive or place the call in the same manner you normally do. When the call is answered (you must wait until the Palm call setup process completes), press and hold the record button for three seconds or more. This launches Audacity and initiates the recording. The red LED displays during recording. When the call completes, stop Audacity in the normal manner and return to the phone screen to hang up. You may also just wait for the remote party to hang up. A setup note: Set the Record button in Audacity Button Setup to be the same button that you set to launch Audacity in the Palm Preferences. I suggest using the side record button, as that button is the most accessible during a phone call.

On the recorded file list, a sound-file icon precedes all files. The icon for phone call files displays with a red background. The file name also begins with a "P" for Phone. The Audio File Information screen displays the message "Phone Call Recording".

Calls are recorded using your chosen audio setting. For instance, if you have selected Compressed 12, the file will be about 1 MB for a ten-minute call. It will write to the SD Card, if that is where you normally record.

If the near or far end of the call is consistently louder than the other end, the balance can be adjusted by going to Options, Preferences, and under Mic Gain, choose the Phone pulldown. The near and far end mic gain can be individually adjusted.

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Recording Phone Calls on a Treo 600

Some people have asked about recording phone calls with Audacity on the Treo 600. Yes, it is possible, but not in the traditional manner. PalmOne does not supply a common audio path internally in the unit. It can be done using an external headset. We recommend the Seidio headset that can be found on www.treocentral.com under accessories. Set it to phone use, launch Audacity, and start recording. The far end audio will probably not be as loud as the near end. It is a limitation that can't be adjusted. A second way is to use the Treo 600 speakerphone feature. This method may seem a little unusual, but works amazingly well.

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Quick Record Options--Many people are looking for a quick record option. While driving down the highway you get a thought and want to record it. Try supplementing the Navigation Pad with either the side button or one of the hard buttons to either side of the Navigation Pad. In Palm Preferences select your choice of buttons to launch Audacity. In Audacity, go to button setup and set this same button to Record in the idle mode and to Stop in the Record mode. Now if you press and hold this button, it will launch and start to record. Pressing it a second time will stop it. It is really launching Audacity, opening a file, and starting the recording with a single button press. The defaults for the side button are set to Record in the home and idle modes and to stop in the record and playback modes.

With the Treo 650 and Treo 700P, launching and recording from the side button will not work if the Treo is inactive. Doing the same thing with a hard button next to the navigation pad will work. A single button press launches Audacity, bypasses the keyguard, and starts a recording. Pressing a second time stops it.

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Location of Product Manuals

Manuals are installed to C:\Program Files\AST for Palm OS versions and to C:\Program Files\Audacity Personal DVR PPC - for PPC Personal, and to C:\Program Files\Audacity Professional DVR PPC - for PPC Professional, and are in PDF format.

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Program Location

The Audacity program must be run from the internal memory. It can not be run from an SD card. You can however record to the SD card.

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Why Can't I Hear Anything When I Try to Play a File on a Treo?

You have the speaker switch in the off position, or else you have the phone in vibrate mode which also cuts off the speaker.

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