Help listening to a important audio recording?

Helen Barber · 24 Jul 2021 at 21:01

......

Rannoch · 24 Jul 2021 at 21:42

First photo shows your address

skyripper · 24 Jul 2021 at 21:51

Looks like they tried to send you an executable file, which is then encoded/encrypted somehow. I'd be on the phone to Halifax to say "oi what do I open this with" on Monday tbh.

Rroff · 25 Jul 2021 at 06:02

.SPE seems to be a somewhat obscure video/image format - not sure if it has an audio track. Another (probably more likely) possibility it is actually Speex data.

Could try opening it with 7-zip - sometimes it is just a self-extracting container - you don't really want to mess about with an exe from an unknown source. One of the codec packages with Media Player Classic or similar like k-lite and the right codec package might be able to play the original file once decrypted.

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 09:48

Rroff said:
.SPE seems to be a somewhat obscure video/image format - not sure if it has an audio track. Another (probably more likely) possibility it is actually Speex data.

Could try opening it with 7-zip - sometimes it is just a self-extracting container - you don't really want to mess about with an exe from an unknown source. One of the codec packages with Media Player Classic or similar like k-lite and the right codec package might be able to play the original file once decrypted.

Thanks I will try again this morning

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 11:04

.....

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 11:07

.....

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 11:23

Letter says to try DSP group true speech... Does anyone know of any software?

Steampunk · 25 Jul 2021 at 11:40

Helen Barber said:
Letter says to try DSP group true speech... Does anyone know of any software?

This is going to sound a bit strange, but based on the instructions they sent you, they may have mislabelled the file. Try copying the file from the CD to your PC, then add ".exe" (no quotes) to the end of the file name, and then executing it (double click on the file name). I think it may then ask you for the passkey and a drive location to unpack to. Then you may have a sound file you can play in something.

It does say that the file should be playable in Windows Media Player, so it can't be as exotic and rare as the weird file extension implies.

If you have problems doing the above, you can just try removing the .spe extension part of the filename to get the .exe part of the filename at the end. Make sure you have "show extensions" enabled in your windows filemanager to see the extensions types so you can change them.

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 12:58

.......

ODuffer · 25 Jul 2021 at 13:01

Are you still going with this, perhaps open the file using a hex editor, look at the 'header' for clues.

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 13:25

......

Steampunk · 25 Jul 2021 at 14:25

Helen Barber said:
Thanks for that. The file name all ready seemed to have .exe at the end.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/d4HNZATqc6lGWwnYju94csabMoNsF2aH6mtTRVTAOFZ

This DSP truespeech seemed to be built into xp and vista but not currently - I think from reading.

I will try your second option, probably the worst file choice they could send and instructions!

Nightmare!

Your screenshots show it ending in .exe.spe. If you don't have file suffexes enabled, it will show in filemanager as .exe, but it actually has a hidden .spe at the end, which means windows will not have a file association with it. That why I suggested you make sure it has an .exe suffix so that it is executed. This will be the first step in unpacking the file as listed in the instructions sent to you. The fact that you say you don't get to input the unpacking password indicates that you are not executing the self-unpacking archive. The fact that windows has no association with the .spe file suffix means it's not being executed because it's looking for what to do with a .spe file instead of trying to run an .exe. This is shown by the file properties screenshots you posted.

I have done exactly what I described to you above (copy the file to my hard drive, and then remove the .spe from the end of the file name, then double click on the file), and this opens as a SA 6 Self-Decrypting Archive and asks for a password to unpack.

In order to see the file name correctly, you need to open a filemanager window, click "view" on the top menu, then select "file name extensions" on the right pane under the menus. Then you can rename and run the file as I described.

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 14:30

I will try now

Helen Barber · 25 Jul 2021 at 14:38

It's working now!!!! Thanks so much!

!!!

Steampunk · 25 Jul 2021 at 15:09

Helen Barber said:
It's working now!!!! Thanks so much!

!!!

Did you get an audio file out that you can now play?

Helen Barber · 26 Jul 2021 at 11:37

I'm waiting for password to be sent in the post, then hopefully it should just play with WMP