Use mp3 instead of wav for voicemail messages?
 

Dear Voxalot,

Have you considered sending new voicemails as email attachments in MP3 format instead of WAV format?

I would say that pretty much any device that can play WAV files can also handle MP3s - and there are plenty which can ONLY handle MP3s.

Of course, apart from being more compatible, the MP3s would also let you you the bitrate more efficiently - either to make even smaller emails, or to increase the quality of the message that people receive.

What do others think? Would you prefer MP3 voicemails?

And Voxalot people, does my idea have any merit? I don't imagine it would be a hard feature to implement, but maybe there's something I haven't thought of. I only suggest this to help improve this already great service.

N

I like the idea. The messages could be tagged with a timestamp and caller id if available too. I don't know how possible it is though.

MP3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There might be Licensing and Patent violation issues with doing that.

One day someone will own the patent on turning on a computer.... need less to say, I don't like the sound of patents that stifle reasonable use of a technology; particularly where such a substantial public use exists as is the case for MP3 files today.

It's okay, Voxalot WAV's already are compressed by the GSM 6.10 codec. They are already quite small, and compatible with most operating system's standard media players. Even if we like the MP3 format because it is so widely supported, I think the licencing issues is a big factor to consider. Within a few years the patent will expire though.

It's a shame about the licensing of the MP3 format. I'd love to suggest using OGG or another open format, but the number of people who can play it back is still pretty small. It sounds like we're stick with WAV for the next few years.

Perhaps I can set up an email mangler that will convert WAV files to MP3. Otherwise I may as well turn off voicemail - my LG phone can't handle WAV files. :-(

If my SE k750I could support ogg files then I would move over completely to that format.

I'd prefer to stick with WAV/GSM format, but what I would like to see is the file name change from anything.wav to anything.amr. I would like to send the voicemail to my cellphone via an MMS, but there are certain restrictions on the types of files that can be attached to an MMS message. MP3/WAV can't go through, but AMR files can. Since the WAV file is an AMR file in this case, it just requires a rename, that would help out with voicemail on the road without dialing in to check.