Trouble with Audio using C++

Greetings my friends.

I have been attempting to get this right for a while now, but so far no luck.
I will begin by introducing my goal, then post the script I currently possess, and the errors I wish to fix.

Goal:
My goal is to make a simple program that plays an audio file of any extension.
This audio file would be local and have a directory (say, my Desktop).

Script:

Code:

---


#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <windows.h>
#include <mmsystem.h>
#pragma comment(lib,"winmm.lib");

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    PlaySound("C:\\Users\\Main\\Desktop\\Sample.wav", NULL, SND_FILENAME);
    return 0;
}

---

The first limitation I am aware of with using PlaySound() is the file type can only be WAV.
I'm okay with this limitation for now - I will investigate alternatives after I have at least one working basis to rely on.

Error:
||undefined reference to `_PlaySoundA@12'|

The compiler I am using is Code::Blocks 8.02

Any help is appreciated!
Thank you everyone :)

Try adding libwinmm.a to your project.
It should be in mingw's lib directory.

Do you know which line I should add this too?
You think you could repost the code with the proper additions?
Sorry, I'm a beginner :)

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CPlus

Do you know which line I should add this too?
You think you could repost the code with the proper additions?
Sorry, I'm a beginner :)

Thanks!

---

It's not a code change. The appropriate library needs to be added to the project.

Hmm I'm confused :(

You guys have a lot of knowledge, I'm sorry for wasting your time.
I just wish I understood.

There is nothing wrong with your code. This is a linking error.

It's been such a lot time since I've used C::B that I don't remember how you do it. Do a web search on it or mess around with the compiler settings or build options.

Ohh I see...I'll look into that right away :)

Okay, so I found MingW in my computer.
Do any of you know where to get the "libwinmm.a" file?

I still have to figure out how to link it, but I'm researching that right now.

Thanks :)

You *should* already have it in your mingw\lib directory.

Yes, this is strange. I guess I'm not doing it right :(

I wish there were user-friendly tutorials on such fundamentals.
Back to researching on the solution.

EDIT:

Nevermind! I found it!
Great.
Now to find how to link ... I switched to DevC++ now. Maybe it'll be easier.

Quote:

---

My goal is to make a simple program that plays an audio file of any extension.

---

That is not possible without paying a lot of money for something like the Miles Sound System from RAD game tools.

Windows functions only play WAV files. If you write code that plays MP3 files then you could be reponsible for royalties and licensing fees. OpenAL can play any type of file but you must write the file format decoder. Ogg is becoming a widely used format and has many decoders already available so it can be used in OpenAL and other libraries. There are many many many types of sound files and mroe are added each day. There is no way that one library could support them all.

I would just use DirectShow. Old and crude, perhaps, but it still does its job very well. A single decoder--ffdshow--can decode the most popular formats available and many more, and for nay a single penny.

DirectShow does support MP3's but AFAIK it has been deprecated. Use at your own risk. It has, however, been integrated into the Platform SDK. Most of the things in the Platform SDK stick around for a very very long time even if they have long since been deprecated. So perhaps you could get away with using DirectShow to play MP3's if you so desire. It certainly does beat your other options. Not sure how MS got away with decoding the MP3's in an API without forcing everyone to pay MP3 royalties...but then again they are Microsoft.

If you still haven't found how to link:

Go to Settings->Compiler and Debugger

Click the Linker Settings tab

In the Link Libraries group box, click add and type "winmm"

Click OK

That should do it

Code:

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#pragma comment(lib,"winmm.lib");

---

I've seen quite a few people trying to use this pragma in gcc/g++ lately. Last time I checked gcc ignored it, has that changed now a days?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bubba

DirectShow does support MP3's but AFAIK it has been deprecated. Use at your own risk.

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The Media Foundation APIs are the Vista+ replacement.

Quote:

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The Media Foundation APIs are the Vista+ replacement.

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Very nice. But I am a bit more tentative about jumping onto the latest and greatest that MS comes up with. How do I know that 1 or 2 years later they won't deprecate it in favor of something else? They have a bad habit of doing just that and it seems to be getting worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adeyblue

The Media Foundation APIs are the Vista+ replacement.

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I'm not sure it supports all the formats that DS does, though. But if it does, it's certainly better.

Oh sorry guys! I had completely forgotten about this post :P

I found out how to link that very same day. Thanks for all the after-input though!
:)

Oh wait, something confuses me.
There exist free media players out there - do they have to pay royalties for being able to play MP3 and use other codecs?

Quote:

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There exist free media players out there - do they have to pay royalties for being able to play MP3 and use other codecs?

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I'm not sure how it all works. If you look up information about MP3 they are very strict on their licensing and what they will allow. Of course just because they won't allow something does not mean that everyone obeys that. Attempting to go after everyone who illegaly supports the MP3 format would cost far too much money. If you google about the MP3 format I think you will find more information concerning licensing, etc. AFAIK the format is only available if you pay for the licensing and documentation.

MP3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If I interpret this correctly then it seems that any software, free or not, that uses the mp3 format without licensing it is breaking the patent laws. But then there's also this

Quote:

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Additionally, patent holders declined to enforce license fees on free and open source decoders, which allows many free MP3 decoders to develop.[43] Thus, while patent fees have been an issue for companies that attempt to use MP3, they have not meaningfully impacted users, which allows the format to grow in popularity.

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Although there's technically nothing that's stopping the patent holders from changing their minds and start sueing people left and right but I can't quite see that happening :)
Wikipedia also claims that

Quote:

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The various MP3-related patents expire on dates ranging from 2007 to 2017 in the U.S

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So in a few years this won't be an issue at all for anyone.

Licensing decoding for MP3 would be like shooting themselves in the foot. The mp3 popularity would drop rapidly.
But in a few years, mp3 will hardly be used at all!

Another alternative is to use SDL, and SDL_mixer, which has support for a bunch of file types. It's also very simple to learn and use.