Technical FAQ
Shipping / FTP
Audio
Shipping / FTP questions
What is FTP?
- FTP or File Transfer Protocol, is a way to move
files between computers on the Internet using the Internet's TCP/IP protocols.
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What do I do with the shipping information you
emailed me?
- If your Email reader is capable of interpreting
HTML, please left click on the link provided. You need only click on the link
once. This should open your web browser (most likely Microsoft Internet
Explorer or Netscape Navigator). You can tell if your email reader is HTML
compliant if the line starting with "http://" in the body of the email we sent
you is a different color from the rest of the email. Once you have successfully
logged in, we recommend that you bookmark this site to facilitate easy access
in the future.
- If this is not the case, please
select then
copy the link and
paste it into the "address" line ("location" for
Netscape users) of your browser and press the Enter key on your keyboard. Once
you have successfully logged in, we recommend that you bookmark this site to
facilitate easy access in the future.
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Do I have to use a web browser?
- No. In fact, we recommend that you not use a web
browser for FTP, if you have a choice in the matter. Instead, we recommend that
you use an FTP Client (such as
WS_FTP LE for Windows and
Fetch for Mac). These clients are generally easy to use
and are more reliable for file transfers via FTP. Many FTP clients, such as
WS_FTP LE have license agreements underwhich private individuals may use them
free of charge.
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How do I make my browser work with FTP?
- First determine the version number of your web
browser by going to the help menu and selecting "About [browser name]" (where
[browser name] is the name of the product you are using). Next follow the
directions below which pertain to your particular browser. Once you have
successfully logged in, we recommend that you bookmark this site to facilitate
easy access in the future.
Explorer 5.5
- If your are having connections problems first go
to the Tools menu and select Internet Options, click on the "Advanced" tab and,
in the "browsing" section, deselect "Use passive FTP for compatibility with
some firewalls and DSL Modems"
- To turn on/off the Folder view for FTP sites go to
the Tools menu and select Internet Options, click on the "Advanced" tab and
toggle "Enable Folder view for FTP sites"
- To download your files once you have connected:
- If folder view is off:
Right click your
file and select "Save Target as..." then specify the path to which you want
your files saved on your local machine
- If folder view is on:
Right click your
file and select "Copy to Folder..." then specify the path to which you want
your files saved on your local machine
Explorer 5.0
- If your are having connections problems first go
to the Tools menu and select Internet Options, click on the "Advanced" tab and,
in the "browsing" section, deselect "Use Web Based FTP"
- To download your files once you have connected:
- Right click your file and select "Copy to
Folder..." then specify the path to which you want your files saved on your
local machine
Netscape
- Please deselect "Send email address as anonymous
FTP password."
- To download your files once you have connected:
- Right click your file and select "Save link
as..." then specify the path to which you want your files saved on your local
machine
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Audio
What is Bit Rate?
- Bit rate (or bit depth) describes how many binary
digits a digital audio file uses to describe the amplitude of the audio it is
recreating. Each bit doubles the accuracy with which an amplitude level can be
described (16 bit = 65,536 possible levels). This means that bit rate can also
be said to determine the signal to noise ratio (or
dynamic range) of an audio file (16 bit = 96dB of
theoretical usable space in which to represent your audio). This meaning of bit
rate is not to be confused with the "bit rate" used in the telecommunications
industry as a synonym for data transfer rate (measured in kbps).
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What is Sampling Rate?
- Sampling rate is the number of values (samples)
measured per second in the conversion of audio from analog to digital. The rule
governing sampling (the Nyquist theorem) states that in order to accurately
reproduce a sample, The sampling rate must be equal to, or greater than, twice
the highest frequency to be reproduced. Therefore, the standard CD digital rate
of 44.1 KHz restricts the maximum sampled frequency to 22.05KHz. The standard
Dialogic 64kbps (mulaw 8KHz) file restricts the maximum sampled frequency to
4KHz. (For a point of comparison, Human hearing is usually said to be 20Hz to
20KHz).
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What is Dynamic Range (Signal to Noise
Ratio)?
- Dynamic range is the difference between the
loudest and quietest sounds produced in an audio file. The dynamic range in an
audio file is determined by its
bit rate (bit depth), at 6 dB per digital bit.
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What is PCM?
- PCM stands for Pulse Code Modulation. It is a
method by which an audio signal is represented as digital data. In PCM
encoding, the instantaneous amplitude of an analog signal is
sampled and then rounded off (quantized) to a
predetermined level (as defined by the
bit rate).
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What are Mu-law and A-law?
- Mu-law and A-law are audio compression schemes
(CODECs) defined by CCITT G.711 which compress 16 bit linear
PCM data down to 8 bits of logarithmic data. In the
encoding process (often referred to logarithmic companding) breaks the
PCM data into segments with each progressively higher
segment doubling in size. This ensures that the lower amplitude signals (where
most of the information is speech takes place) get the highest bit resolution
while still allowing enough dynamic range to encode high amplitude signals.
Though this method doesn't provide a very high compression ratio (roughly 2:1),
it doesn't require much processing power to decode. Mu-law (also written uLaw,
since the 'mu' in question is actually supposed to be a Greek symbol resembling
a lower case u) is the encoding scheme used for North America and Japan for
voice data traffic and many PBX and IVR systems and much internet radio (via
MIME). A-Law (or aLaw) is used in Europe and throughout the rest of the world.
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What is ADPCM?
- ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code
Modulation) is a variant of DPCM which uses a predictive algorithm to adjust
for characteristics of the input signal. DPCM (Differential Pulse Code
Modulation) is an encoding scheme in which an analog audio signal is sampled
and the difference between the actual value of each sample and its predicted
value (taken from the sample before it) is stored to the digital audio file.
This most often results in a 4 bit file (4:1 compression), though 3 and 5 bit
variants do exist.
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What is a VOX file?
- Short answer, there is no such beast. VOX is an
extension used by several different IVR manufacturers as a way for their
systems to differentiate a voice prompt from a system data file. These various
"vox" files are vastly different and usually incompatible. The only way to
ensure that you get your prompts in the format you need is to know the bit
rate, sampling rate, and encoding scheme used by the manufacturer of your IVRS
or switch.
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What is a WAV (wave) file?
- WAV is the file name extension for Wave Form Audio
File Format (also called a RIFF WAVE). It is a Microsoft audio format
introduced in Window 3.1 which contains a RIFF (Resource Interchange File
Format) header. This header tells the computer (or IVR) what the format, bit
rate and sampling rate of the audio data to follow is going to be.
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Can Worldly Voices Produce my Format?
- More than likely, yes. At last count, we could
produce over 250 flavors of digital audio. The only known exception is the
g.729 format which is licensed by
Sipro Lab Telecom. We know, however, that this format
has been successfully produced from 16bit 8k RIFF-WAVE files, which we can
easily produce for you.
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What is my format / bit and sampling rate for my
IVR?
- We do not know and cannot determine that based on
the make nor model of your IVR. The manuals for your IVR should contain a list
of those formats which are accepted by your IVR system and said list is also
available from the manufacturer of your IVR. Often times IVR systems can accept
a wide range of formats and/or bit/sampling rate combinations and while we can
advise you as to differences in sound quality, the choice of such is left to
you, the end user.
- If you have a file which is currently working on
your system, feel free to send us a sample via
email (under 100Kb, please) and we will do our best to
determine what format and bit/sampling rate it is that you need.
- To help you in the process of determining what
format you will need, we have made some of our more popular formats
available for download from the web.
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