Expert: Werner "Menneisyys" Ruotsalainen

I've just posted another, really big roundup on all sound recorder / voice note taker Pocket PC applications HERE (the backup article can be found here).

It's really worth checking out even if you only use the built-in Notes to take voice notes. It contains everything you would ever want to know about sound recording on the Pocket PC.

Feel free to read – and, of course, comment

Q: ActiveSync doesn't automatically extract embedded WAV files from my Pocket Notes PWI files. What should I do so that I can listen to my voice notes on my PC too, not only on my Pocket PC?

A: The Pocket PC community had to wait some five years for the solution. It, however, arrived at last.

I've compiled/designed two versions: a PPC and a PC one. The Pocket PC version can be found here, while the PC version can be found here. Both require the CF framework, which is installed by default on all WM2003+ devices.

I (and numerous other users) have tested them on several PPC's (and, of course, the PC version on the desktop); they work flawlessly.

Using on the Pocket PC:

1, download this file

2, extract the CAB file targeted at your device. For example, all WM2003+ users should extract PWI_Embedded_Sound_Extractor_ARMV4.CAB. Transfer it to your PDA.

3, start File Explorer on your PDA and click the CAB file. Alternatively, you can use CabInstl or other, similar tools (see this blog entry on them) to install it on a storage card.

4, start the application (it doesn't have any fancy icon - sorry, I'm pretty bad at graphical design/drawing. Just look for the name PWISoundExtractor). You'll be presented the following screen:

click for screenshot

5, As instructed, click ‘Convert!’ and, on the next screen, just click on a PWI file that contains embedded sound files. The app will extract the files and tells you how many of them there were and into what directory it extracted them.

The PC version is similar but it lacks error detection (which isn’t a problem if you don’t pass it files that don’t have embedded sound files etc) and has a slightly different GUI (I didn’t have the time to synchronize the two GUI’s.) It works the same way: it puts the extracted files into the same directory as the input file.

I've also uploaded the sources of the PPC version (the PC version is a bit older and has no error handling, so, I've chosen to make the more advanced PPC sources available) here.

Also, if you're interested in a Java-language implementation (because you'd like to run it on alternative, non-CF-compliant but Java-enabled operating systems like Linux, Solaris, Mac OS, AmigaOS etc.), read the first post here.