I'm new here, so I greatly appreciate your help on this.


I download podcasts of radio shows on a daily basis. I use iTunes for the initial podcasting because I use a Mac Book Pro with 10.5.3 running. Because my mp3 player is a Creative Labs. Zen Micro Photo, iTunes has no device driver/support for it. I have to then use XNJB 1.5.0 to upload to the player.

Note: Prior to this change this has always worked with no issues.

Change: The provider of the podcasts recently changed the format from 32 kbps at 22.050 kHz MPEG-2 layer 3
to 16 kbps at 11.025 kHz MPEG-2 layer 3. They did this to cut down their file size from about 8 megs down to 4 megs each, space saving on their server.

Problem: Ever since the change (never a problem before) the newer 16 kbps files playback at about half the tempo/speed on my mp3 player. I have repeatedly asked for help from the Podcast provider but I don't think they have a clue, or are just not helping, not sure.

Help! Does anyone know a solution for me? Do I have to use an audio converter to get the tempo back up? Am I stuck with this? Do you have any recommendation I can send to the provider to fix this on their end? Is there some way to convert the files in iTunes, which I am not aware of?

I would imagine this prevents many more customers of theirs than just me. So your suggestions may help many others.

Thank for any help you can provide,


PS. Please note, I am probably not as audio-tech savvy as all of you. So, if you can, please humor me by explaining a little more for me. Thanks.

Does the playback problem occur in iTunes or only on your hardware player?
Have you tried playing the file with another player (hardware or software)?

Would you mind posting the podcast url so we can try it out?

11025Hz sampling rate is only supported by the so-called MPEG-2.5 extension. This extension was developed by Fraunhofer and is not technically part of the MPEG standard. It's likely that the player you are using doesn't support MPEG-2.5.

Adding to benski's correct answer, i would like to point out that the provider can encode at 16kbps with 22.05Khz, so maintaining the MPEG 2 format that has worked for you.

Yet, it is strange that it plays twice as slow. I would expect it to play twice as fast! (In any case, a fault on the decoder)

Since it the previous format played at normal speed I didn't think to try it on another. I have an old Nomad, will try them on it.

Here's the link:

http://www.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=3

They play at normal speed in iTunes.

Thanks for your help,





THANK YOU! I am forwarding your suggestion straight to them to see if they'll try it.

Much thanks!

And it plays at normal on my iPod, so it's definitely a quirk with the player.
I would have thought it would play at double speed as well.

I've had similar problems with podcasts on my iRiver T10.
I listen to 8-10 different podcasts and once in a while one of them plays back at the wrong speed.
Fortunately the T10 lets me speed up or down mp3-files

Guess it doesn't support MPEG-2.5.

We reduced the Kbps rate to cut download costs, which were going through the roof. As the content is voice only, 16kbps was deemed acceptable. The 11.025 sample rate provided less artifacts than 22.050, but I am going to conduct some tests with 22.050 and various filter options to see if we can get acceptable audio with the sample rate above the stream rate.

Thanks,
Jim (Townhall.com audio processor, among other tasks!)