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How To Voicemail .wav file attachment - SOLVED!? (workaround)

StingRay

StingRay

Well-Known Member
Sorry if this has been posted as a solution already...I just stumbled onto this myself and wanted to share as I know it's been a frustration for many....

With numerous threads regarding the inability to open voicemail .wav attachments sent from corporate (and other) voice servers, I wanted to share my discovery/solution. It involves the purchase of the "Remote Wave" app from the Android Market, but requires one important step that I was previously overlooking.

Someone had suggested downloading Remote Wave, as it was apparently developed for this specific purpose, but like most I found that even with it loaded on my Droid, I was never given the opportunity to open the voicemail .wav attachment with anything other than the native media player. My voicemails are sent to me through my corporate email and if I clicked on "open" it would open the native media player then tell me that the player could not play that file type.

Here's how I got mine to work.....I forwarded one of my emails with the voicemail .wav file to my GMail email address. It has been noted that GMail will ask you which player you wish to open the file with, unlike the other (non-GMail) email app. Once you forward the voicemail, go ahead and select "preview" (only choice) which will open the file in GMail, then it will ask you which player you wish to open with. Before selecting Remote Wave, note below that there is a check box to check that says to use this as the default each time....CHECK THE DEFAULT BOX, THEN SELECT REMOTE WAVE. Your message will then go ahead and play from Remote Wave, but more importantly....YOU HAVE MADE REMOTE WAVE THE DEFAULT FOR THIS ACTION IN EITHER MAIL APPLICATION!!!!

Now go back to your other email (in my case my corporate email) and open your voicemail attachment as you have been trying to do previously....YOU WILL NOW BE ABLE TO LISTEN TO YOUR VOICEMAIL IN REMOTE WAVE JUST LIKE YOU COULD IN GMAIL!!!

I hope that this works the way it did for me, but I'm sure there are certain situations where it won't .....Good Luck!!
 
Just a note, Remote Wave plays wav file formats that aren't supported by the Droid. But there are some formats, such as PCM, that the Droid does support (at least when opening in Gmail). But Remote Wave will not play these.

So in the unlikely event someone sends you a wav file that won't play when you have Remote Wave set as default, remember you can clear its default by going to Applications>Manage Applications>Remote Wave>Clear Default, and then see if the native player will play it.

I say it's unlikely because most of us only get wav files from work voicemail so having Remote Wave set as default is fine.
 
I tried opening a Google Voice WAV from the GMail app on the Droid--no dice! It didn't ask. I have Antropia and Astro Player--is it specifically Remote Wave that causes the mail app to ask which player to use?
 
I added Remote Wave, so that and the default player were my only choices. When I forwarded the voicemail email attachment to my Gmail account, it gave me the option of opening with Remote Wave or the default and had a "make default" checkbox at the bottom.

If you're not getting to make a choice that is strange. I wasn't asked when I tried to open in my corporate (exchange) email account, but did get the question in Gmail.
 
I understand this may not work for everyone, but those with Google Voice should be able to tell the system to send you MP3 files. Those should work better. For me it will ask which browser to open it (I have the default and Dolphin), then downloads it to the SD card and will show the "Download History". Just click on the MP3 file that it just downloaded and you will be able to listen. No extra apps to download...
 
That is a much better way.

I'm hoping that this issue will be corrected for the corporate email accounts in the upcoming update, because the sound quality on Remote Wave stinks. It works for now though, so between fixing this and getting my meeting invites to let me respond I'll be keeping my Droid rather than returning.....
 
Just wanted to say thanks to StingRay for this workaround. I had hoped that the 2.0.1 update would address this but when I didn't see any reports, I decided to buy RemoteWave. It took a few attempts to set it as the default but now it's working with my gmail but more importantly Touchdown email and the native email app. This allows me to get my voicemails on the road without dialing in and the sound quality is not that bad. Well worth the $1.98 for me. Thanks again.
 
Glad it worked out for you....

I had posted a "workaround" for being able to respond to corporate meeting requests, but unfortunately it didn't work out....had to breakdown and purchase the app "Touchdown" ($9.99) which fixed that and provided a way to set a signature for outgoing apps....

I was hoping the new 2.01 update would correct some of these issues, but from you post I guess that didn't happen....:(
 
Thanks for this great info!! I was getting frustrated until someone pointed here.

FYI - I downloaded the RemoteWave, used K-9 mail to open and it asked me the question of which I wanted to use. So K-9 will allow the selection of player also. K-9 is my default.

By the way, I am running 2.1 on my Droid
 
This is all well in good but remotewave is no longer available from Market or from the vendor. Google must resolve this issue with its Media Player and add the WAV codec.
 
djbrody said:
This is all well in good but remotewave is no longer available from Market or from the vendor. Google must resolve this issue with its Media Player and add the WAV codec.
Click to expand...

The Droid does support wav files. This whole topic is so strange to me as I can't seem to find a wav file that my Droid won't play. :confused:
 
messenger13 said:
The Droid does support wav files. This whole topic is so strange to me as I can't seem to find a wav file that my Droid won't play. :confused:
Click to expand...
Joe,

Droid does not play the type of Wav files produced by voicemail systems at many companies, including mine. I was able to get remotewave so I can listen to my voicemail wav files but without it I would be SOL. As indicated by others, it's a common problem for a certain number of people and given that it's just a simple codec it seems crazy if Google does not address it.
 
This issue was driving me nuts. I was able to solve it by using Google Voice.

Our firm's phone system is very robust. So I was able to set it up to ring my desk phone 4 times, then it sends the call to my Google Voice number. The Google Voice number is setup to go straight to voice mail. (I don't use GV for calls - only voice mail). Of course GV also catches the missed calls to my droid.

So in the end, all of my missed calls (work or cell) go to GV and within a minute or two I can read a transcription of the message or listen to it through the GV app on the droid.
 
I tried the Voicemail Conversions - Home and it works pretty good. I had it convert the wav to Mp3 and then it emails you the new attachment. Its a good free solution but does require extra steps.

I am using MagicJack and it sends wav files that the Droid cant play by default. I set my MagicJack to forward VM files to iPhoneConvert and then set iPhoneConvert to send the converted file to mine and my wife's gmail account. This way there is no extra step that I have to take. It comes in as Mp4 by default from iPhoneConvert but you can change the settings as well as the subject of the email.

Or.....You could spend $2. LMAO. What I'll do to NOT spend a couple of dollars. ;)
 
I followed your instructions but do not get an option to "review" but just "open" the file. When I open it, I can play it in gmail but not on my Outlook account. I don't see anywhere in gmail to choose "remote wave" or set it as a default.

StingRay said:
Sorry if this has been posted as a solution already...I just stumbled onto this myself and wanted to share as I know it's been a frustration for many....

With numerous threads regarding the inability to open voicemail .wav attachments sent from corporate (and other) voice servers, I wanted to share my discovery/solution. It involves the purchase of the "Remote Wave" app from the Android Market, but requires one important step that I was previously overlooking.

Someone had suggested downloading Remote Wave, as it was apparently developed for this specific purpose, but like most I found that even with it loaded on my Droid, I was never given the opportunity to open the voicemail .wav attachment with anything other than the native media player. My voicemails are sent to me through my corporate email and if I clicked on "open" it would open the native media player then tell me that the player could not play that file type.

Here's how I got mine to work.....I forwarded one of my emails with the voicemail .wav file to my GMail email address. It has been noted that GMail will ask you which player you wish to open the file with, unlike the other (non-GMail) email app. Once you forward the voicemail, go ahead and select "preview" (only choice) which will open the file in GMail, then it will ask you which player you wish to open with. Before selecting Remote Wave, note below that there is a check box to check that says to use this as the default each time....CHECK THE DEFAULT BOX, THEN SELECT REMOTE WAVE. Your message will then go ahead and play from Remote Wave, but more importantly....YOU HAVE MADE REMOTE WAVE THE DEFAULT FOR THIS ACTION IN EITHER MAIL APPLICATION!!!!

Now go back to your other email (in my case my corporate email) and open your voicemail attachment as you have been trying to do previously....YOU WILL NOW BE ABLE TO LISTEN TO YOUR VOICEMAIL IN REMOTE WAVE JUST LIKE YOU COULD IN GMAIL!!!

I hope that this works the way it did for me, but I'm sure there are certain situations where it won't .....Good Luck!!
Click to expand...
 
Highland Ranger said:
whats weird is my vonage email was working on 2.1 and broke with 2.2 - I am also now using remote wav
Click to expand...

Same thing here. Stock 2.1 on my Moto Droid played my vonage WAVs fine. Now that I have stock 2.2 it no longer does. Snagged Remote Wav as a workaround.
 
There's an app called WavPlayer that is able to play most WAV attachments including GSM encoded files (both Microsoft's implementation and raw). It's available in the Android Market for 99 cents. I'm the developer, so if anyone finds a file that WavPlayer reports as unsupported, please email me a copy and I should be able to add support. My contact information can be found in the Market details for the application. Thanks all!
 
Thanks for the info about WavPlayer! I just got it and it works great for both Gmail and my work IMAP mail through K9.
 
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