How to make ActiveSync synchronise WAV recordings

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Can anyone tell me why Micro$oft sees fit to stop me from synchronising
my WAV recordings? Activesync will, for example, synchronise text
documents by default, but not WAV files. Duh? If you've made a
recording, surely a backup automatically created by Activesync on your
hard drive would be a good thing? After all, hard disk space is so
inexpensive nowadays.

I was annoyed when I found that ActiveShi-- er, Sync wasn't synching my
recordings so I looked in my device's registry and there, in
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows CE Services, was a key called
ExcludeExts with a REG_SZ Value Data of: lnk, tmp, cdb, mdb, WAV, PWI

--- Warning! If you're not confident about editing your registries
please do not try this at home. You could seriously mess up your
machines if you don't know what you're doing. ---

There was also a corresponding entry on the desktop machine, in:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows CE Services\Partners\(a hex
string)\Services\Synchronization\Objects\File

and in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows CE
Services\Services\Synchronization\All\MS.WinCE.CEFSTore\File

and also in a few other places. A registry search for ExcludeExts will
find all the blasted things. Anyway, I deleted the offending WAV entries
and, hey presto!, my device now syncs my recordings.

Why does M$ seem to try so hard to annoy its customers?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev] wrote:
> See http://BevHoward.com/bhhpj.htm#Record and
> http://BevHoward.com/ASync.htm#Notes for a description of what's going
> on... they are being treated as outlook PIM "objects"

Actually, these are just simple recordings, and not the ones made under
Notes -- which, by the way, are a real pain to extract, using a
convoluted process and requiring M$ Word, which not everyone has or
wants on their system.

> Probably the easiest way to deal with this is to set voice recorder to
> store recordings on a memory card, then sync the card contents using a
> card reader and a pc file sync program.

Thanks for your comments Beverly, but for me the easiest way is just to
record, and have ActiveSync automatically copy the WAVs to my HDD. It's
one simple process and doesn't require the purchase of any other
software, which I assume your suggestion might entail. The only thing I
have to do is a simple registry edit as outlined in my original post.

The point of my original post was that I shouldn't have to mess about in
the registry to get my device to perform basic functions, and I wondered
if anyone in this group (or at M$) has an explanation.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev] wrote:
> >> an explanation <<
>
> To clarify my understanding of this;
>
> Stand alone voice recordings are treated as "Notes" objects

Not on my system, since I edited the registry.

The recordings that appear in Outlook are as crippled as the recordings
in notes! Right-click on a recording in the notes folder of Outlook and
what options do you get? Open, Print (Print! A WAV file! Hilarious!),
Categories, or Delete. That's it. And if you click Open you get a
pathetically crippled player with no menus whatsoever!

With my method, if I right-click I can open and play them in Windows
Media Player or, better still, Foobar; or I can convert them to a great
compressed format like the free, open source Ogg Vorbis (better
compression and sound than mp3) for archival; or I can edit them. There
are so many more options doing it my way.

I just hate it when Micro$oft deliberately cripples software. And the
only explanation for this I can think of is that it's annoying trick to
try and lock people into their proprietary, and sometimes inferior
formats -- unless you or anyone else has a better answer?


> Voice recordings are wav files
>
> If you sync "Notes," _all_ .wav files will be treated as voice notes and
> synced into outlook's pst data file along with .pwi files
>
> If you want to have them simply sync as files, turn off "Notes" sync...

But Beverly, won't that stop _all_ my notes from synching? Isn't that
really stupid in the sense that would limit my options, such as
handwritten notes?


> they should then sync as "Files"

They already DO sync as files! Through the 30 second registry edit I
mentioned in my original post!

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev] wrote:

> >> They already DO sync as files! Through the 30 second registry edit I
> mentioned in my original post!
>
> Is it then not possible to rightclick a wav, open with, choose program,
> select app, then check "always use..."?

If the recordings are synched the Micro$oft way, then no. If the
recordings are synched with the restriction lifted, yes, you can do what
you like with them.

> > tip
>
> Thanks for the registry find.

You're welcome.

> >> why <<
>
> ...remember, those of us who have seriously beat up on MS generally find;
>
> 1 - It is always easier to find an alternate solution ...such as you did

There are many people who think Micro$oft should not be allowed to get
away with the anti-competitive and sometimes illegal practices it uses.
Personally, I believe that M$ would serve itself better in the long run
by playing fair and being nice to its customers. We shouldn't be forced
to find an 'alternate solution'!

Micro$oft will become less popular as more and more people find out
about the dirty tricks it uses, so more people will look for
alternatives -- just look at what's happening in the internet browser
market at present for an example. Millions of people are switching to
Firefox and ditching Internet Explorer.


> 2 - The "beatee" isn't even aware of the beating

If you mean Micro$oft isn't aware of my humble messages, then you may
well be right! They didn't have the courtesy to answer an email I sent
to them about a problem with Pocket PC 2003, so it seems a safe bet that
they won't bother with this! I think M$ treats its customers with
contempt. If Palm had proper handwriting recognition I'd happily ditch
Pocket PC right now.

but it always has a
> detrimental and cumulative impact on the "beater." ;-)

Eh? How so?
In fact, since I decided to stop tolerating Micro$oft's shenanigans and
actually do something about it, however small, I feel much happier!