SOX.EXE Version That Works - 14.0.1

I just tried a test using .WAV input and POILoader V2.5.3. If Sox.exe isn't present, POILoader fails.

Perhaps it's determined that your .WAV files don't require any further conversion?

A dangerous endeavor .... I have a nuvi 270 which requires .wav files and a nuvi 770 which uses mp3 files. The only pois that I use sound files with are the enforcement camera poi's (Redlight & Speed cameras). I have one set of enforcement cameras with a wave file in a folder for nuvi 270 poi's and another set in a folder for my nuvi 770 with mp3s. Is this necessary? Could I have one set of enforcement files with both the wav and mp3 files in the same folder and will poi loader load the correct one (sound file) into the correct nuvi? I suspect it more than likely will and I have been wasting time using two locations for my different poi's.

ʎɹɐƃ,

POILoader is not that clever!

However, the Nüvis that can play mp3 files, can also play .wavs, so you could get around the problem that way. (ie use .WAV on both units)

On a somewhat unrelated topic, I was also doing some thinking...

Something I hadn't realised, is that the .WAV file is actually a container - ie there are different types of .WAV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV

I wonder if this is why some people have to use external software to convert alerts to .WAV format? (ie SOX appears to produce an unusable file).

I wonder which varieties are actually supported by the Nüvi?

Poi loaded loaded the .wav file to my nuvi 270, and I guess as long as it loads one or the other to the nuvi 770 I won't know if it's an mp3 or .wav file, nor will I care as long as it works...

Nuvi 755T doesn't support wav files. Would SOX.EXE make it otherwise?

Cyberian75, I use SOX.EXE with my 755T to load wav file alerts with POI loader. I have Vista 64 bit and it works just fine.

Thanks!

I think you have sox.exe but your search is not including .exe files. You may have to do a detailed search to find it, or open the folder that it is in. And make sure your view settings include showing .exe files.

I am using POI Loader 2.5.4.0 and when I deleted sox.exe, POI Loader complained that it could not find it. When I restored sox.exe POI Loader ran ok again.

Just wanted to add this appears to work with POI Loader 2.5.4 also. At least it let me load a Geocache Tour Guide.gpx without error messages and the .wav alert is on the machine. I haven't driven with it yet to see if the alert sounds appropriately.

Thanks for your help.

Doh! Didn't read page 2. My experience was the same as the above comment though and I had no idea what sox.exe was until I found this page. After installing sox.exe POI Loader installed my geocaching tour guide without any error messages.

Confirming that I just downloaded SOX.exe here and it worked fine for me with POI Loader 2.5.4 and WinXP SP3 on a 265WT. Thanks!

I am running Windows 8 - I have SOX.EXE in the POI LOADER FILE. When I run POI LOADER to convert my POIs I get errors advising that POI LOADER was unable to convert the wav file to the proper format and did not include it in the transfer.
I did not have this problem running in Windows 7
Has anyone else using windows 8 had the problem and if they did were they able to correct it?

Try setting compatibility mode for that executable file.

Right click on the sox.exe file and choose "Properties", then select the Compatability tab. Half way down there is a checkbox and dropdown list for compatability mode. Check the box and select either Win7 or XP (service pack 3). If one doesn't work then try the other one.

If you still have errors it might be worth a trying compatability mode on the POI loader exe as well. If you set both files I would keep them both the same version of Windows, Win7 or WinXP.

Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees, that was it. Changed sox.exe to Win7 ran it on my test file and no errors.
I thank you and this is why I am a member.

Thanks for the heads up on compatability mode. I plan to upgrade my system to W8 and this info will be helpful for Sox as well as other programs.

I spoke to soon, when I ran it on my test file it worked (after changing sox.exe to compatibility Windows 7. I ran it on my full files and it did not convert the wav files. I then did POI Loader to Win 7 and it did not work. Ran both as Administrator - did not work. Changed them to XP Service pack 3 - still will not work.
Can not figure out why.
Anybody?

If your test file still works then I would try each of your regular files one at a time to see if there is one that is messing up the process in some way.

Got Windows 7 recently and had same issues. Finally loaded Loader and sox on new computer. Deleted the entire file folder using Windows Explorer(NOT control panel uninstall!!! Just right click and delete entire Garmin file folder) Removed the entire folder using explorer from my old computer that worked, saved it on memory stick. On new computer, put it in programs file so it will be like the one I just deleted. It worked great. The shortcut from the original file works also. Another item I found was that an old sound file I had downloaded, saved and transfered to new computer was bad. Deleted it and downloaded again and it worked fine.

When I switched from XP to 64 bit Win 7, I did not experience any problems.

As hardy505 is suggesting, there may be a bad .wav file involved. That is why loading folders one at a time makes sense.

Alternatively, you might temporarily replace each .wav file with the one that you tested as working and run the entire batch to see what happens.

Double check and make sure the sox.exe is in the right location on the computer. C drive,click program files (86),Garmin and click poiloader folder last.Then paste unzipped copy of sox.exe in that folder. Make sure any file conversions are saved as PCM, 44.100 kHZ., 16 bit, Mono.

I have Windows 8 and had no problems.Just downloaded as above.

Ran Compatibility check on SOX.EXE and POI Loader set at Windows XP ran tests and all works now.
Thanks to everyone who helped me.

Just bought a 2589LMT on sale, after my old 855 was stolen. Not the top of the line, but seems decent enough, the price was right, and the features seem close to my old 855 for the most part, with some nice newer features and reliability, so far.
So, after 24 hours of fiddling, had everything but the audible custom poi alerts working. I was only getting the generic ping sound when the proximity distance was reached, but no voice alert. I saw thread(s) on here and elsewhere about this issue, of the .mp3 formatted audio files no longer being supported, and the sox.exe workaround with the .wav format files. I managed to follow the cookbook instructions, converted my .mp3 files to .wav, created the poi.gpi file on my laptop using the poiloader/sox.exe trick, then loaded and tested (using the gps simulator function) 93 custom pois, and they seem to work.

Only differences noted were, the compile/assembly of the 93 files using the poiloader/sox.exe combo seemed to take a little longer, with a noticeable hiccup before the success message, the poi.gpi file was about twice as large as the .mp3 version which was expected, and the voice alerts sound a little bit louder, also expected. Not sure if they might need to be turned down a bit with some program like the opposite of MP3Gain or some such.
Interestingly enough, before I googled and found the sox.exe workaround, I sent a question about the issue to Garmin Support, and they said there was no workaround, and the ding sound was the best I could hope for.
Uh, huh?

Thanks to all who've been involved with this forum, and posted, or added to, the sox.exe fix thread. Necessity is the mother of invention, it would seem. It's an old problem, but the fix still works, with the newer laptop OS, and the older POILoadeer and sox.exe programs, if this helps anyone wondering about that mix of software.
M.

And the only sox.exe that works is the 14.0.1 version. There was a test done by some here and they found this is the only one.

Congratulations on a success.

Thanks. I must say I'm impressed with the simplicity of the fix and process, although I have no idea why it works. The hardest part, for me, was finding a free piece of software to convert the sound files.
It never ceases to amaze me how many of the problems we encounter turn out to be something less than unique, if you do a little internet based research on them. Someone, somewhere, at some time, has probably had the same issue, and was good enough to share their troubleshooting results and resolution, so the rest of us can save both time and energy.

Yes indeed. There is a thread here that finally figured things out with effort from Evert and hornsby, I think. It wasn't a black and white issue which really delayed Evert's eventual discovery.

The faq here describing the wav file custom alerts also has for download the correct old version of sox so no one needs to Google the internet to find 14.0.1 (not to be confused with 14.1.0!)

And of course, Garmin Support can't help in this case because their support staff members are told custom audio is impossible with the devices that can't play mp3 files.

Here is some history on the forum about the wav files. See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/13429 and http://www.poi-factory.com/node/13041

Hornbyp