Trouble uploading audio files to Parse.com through an Android application

Question

In my Android app I am trying to record audio through the phone's mic, play it back, store it on Parse.com. The ultimate goal is to then allow other devices to stream the audio file.

I can successfully record the audio - here's how I do it: (the format is specified as .3gpp here, but .wav has been working for me too)

 mRecorder = new MediaRecorder();
 mRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
 mRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.THREE_GPP);
 AudioRecordTest();
 mRecorder.setOutputFile(mFileName);
 mRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);

"mFileName" is set here:

 mFileName = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath();
 mFileName += "/audiorecordtest.3gpp";

I can also play the file back. That works fine. Then I try to save it to Parse as a Parse File, and attach it to a Parse Object. Like so:

 byte[] data = mFileName.getBytes();
 ParseUser currentUser = ParseUser.getCurrentUser();
 String usernameText = currentUser.getUsername();
 String mUploadName = usernameText + "_recording.3gpp";
 ParseFile file = new ParseFile(mUploadName, data);
 file.saveInBackground();
 ParseObject audioRecordings = new ParseObject("AudioRecording");
 audioRecordings.put("Submitter", usernameText);
 audioRecordings.put("AudioFile.3gpp", file);
 audioRecordings.put("PositiveScore", 0);
 audioRecordings.put("Negativescore", 0);
 audioRecordings.put("Parent", currentUser);
 audioRecordings.saveInBackground();

Now, I can see the Object and File on Parse.com's data browser. If I click on the audio file, I am taken to a audio player (so Parse recognizes it as audio, at least), but it won't play anything. So there's something wrong with the file.

Here's what I'm using to stream audio:

 mPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
 ParseQuery<ParseObject> query = ParseQuery.getQuery("AudioRecording");
 query.getInBackground("YkfHDl2aEG", new GetCallback<ParseObject>() {
      @Override
      public void done(ParseObject recording, com.parse.ParseException e) {
             if (e != null) { ... }
             else {
                  ParseFile audioFile = recording.getParseFile("audioFile");
                  ParseFile audioFile = recording.getParseFile("audioFile"); 
                  String audioFileURL = audioFile.getUrl();
                  mPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
                  mPlayer.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
                  try { mPlayer.setDataSource(audioFileURL); }

Then, I play the sound. I know I've got that part right because if I replace audioFileURL with this "http://www.pocketjourney.com/downloads/pj/tutorials/audio.mp3", it works fine. It's the Parse.com URL that's breaking it. This is the logcat error:

 08-05 01:15:12.620: E/WVMExtractor(55): Failed to open libwvm.so
 08-05 01:15:12.620: E/MediaPlayer(875): error (1, -2147483648)

This is tough to debug because apparently it corresponds to this unhelpful error: MediaPlayer.MEDIA_ERROR_UNKNOWN. (according to this question Android MediaPlayer error (1, -2147483648))

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

Have you tried getting it to log the URL then copy/pasting that into your browser to see if it likes the file? — Timothy Walters, Aug 05 '14 at 07:22
@TimothyWalters Yes, viewing the file through Parse.com's Data Browser allows you to click on the file, which takes you to the URL for the file. This is where I see the broken audio player (Parse recognizes it as an audio file, but apparently it is an unplayable one). I have logged the URL through the app, and it matches up with the URL on Parse.com — David Emelianov, Aug 05 '14 at 14:01
Could just be that you're missing the MIME type, the optional 3rd parameter when creating the ParseFile. — Timothy Walters, Aug 05 '14 at 20:30

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 06 '14 at 03:20

I changed the way that I was getting the byte data from the audio recording. This is the code I used instead:

            File file = new File(mFileName);
                byte[] byteArray = new byte[(int) file.length()];
                try {
                    FileInputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(file);
                    fileInputStream.read(byteArray);
                    for (int i = 0; i < byteArray.length; i++) {
                        System.out.print((char)byteArray[i]);
                    }
                } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
                   System.out.println("File Not Found.");
                   e.printStackTrace();
                }
                catch (IOException e1) {
                   System.out.println("Error Reading The File.");
                   e1.printStackTrace();
                }

I also ended up recording my file as a .mp4 Doing this required the following changes in my code:

  mRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.MPEG_4);
  mRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AAC);

I also had to change the file extensions to .mp4 instead of .3gpp

It works now but the sound is kind of crappy

Trouble uploading audio files to Parse.com through an Android application

1 Answers1