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Why does SoundCloud get stuck making waveforms for my songs?
I created my new account a few hours ago and I've uploaded two songs and both of them get stuck generating a waveform and are unlistenable. How do I solve this? Thank you, J
I’m frustrated, confused, curious
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hi,
the transcoding and waveform generation part of SoundCloud is definitely core to what we're doing, and we are making improvements to it almost every week. At the moment we're receiving upwards a *year* worth of music every single day, and this number is growing fast. The transcoding system today is much more sophisticated than it was a year ago–yet any problems with it will yield the same kind of symptoms as they did a year ago–(some) tracks will (very rarely, given how many tracks get uploaded all the time) take hours to process because there's a temporary hick-up somewhere along the line.
You're right in that this should be top priority as SoundCloud is a paid service for professionals. We're going to devote more energy to core functionality like uploading/transcoding/sharing in the future, as these processes should be running smoothly *at all times*–this should take priority over adding any new features.
So we're hearing you loud and clear on that and will do our best to make it rock-solid.
Thanks for your understanding,
Eric (CTO SoundCloud)
I’m confident
The company says
this answers the question
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hi, we've had massive pressure on our services in the last 2-3 days. we're working hard to improve the transcoding system now. most of the the time it works fine but it chokes on some weird format files and for now these type of errors "clogs" the queue temporarily. This problem will hopefully be fully solved within the next 1-2 weeks.
The company and 1 other person say
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Same here.... I guess. the exact message is :
"Sorry, that track is too hot for us!
Oh, damn! We couldn't create the waveform for your track. We're checking it right now and will try to fix it asap!"
????
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?thank you for responding. it seemed to resolve the issue after a few more hours.
I’m feeling better about this.
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Inappropriate?hi, we've had massive pressure on our services in the last 2-3 days. we're working hard to improve the transcoding system now. most of the the time it works fine but it chokes on some weird format files and for now these type of errors "clogs" the queue temporarily. This problem will hopefully be fully solved within the next 1-2 weeks.
The company and 1 other person say
this answers the question
3 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
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I've just had the same problem with a file, my first file, I uploaded last night. So few hours later and it's still too hot!
how long can i expect to wait for this to go up? -
our target goal is to keep the processing time under 1 minute for all tracks. but at the moment we're still having some trouble with specific files. also these tracks can affect the performance of the whole system currently. this will change as we build out our uploader/transcoder system, which is happening right now. it will probably take a few weeks before everything is running really smoothly.
but: normally you shouldn't have to wait more than a minute or so for uploads to get processed. -
thats cool, but i'm still waiting for my file to go live and it's been almost 3 days now.
what should i do? just keep on waiting? or should i try uploading it again?
i don't mean to nag. i really like the sound (no pun intended :)) of your services, but it's been days now and from my experience it's not working -
Inappropriate?Thank you for your help! SoundCloud is absolutely amazing and wonderful service to the music community.
I’m happy
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Inappropriate?Ok I'll wait then... :-) thanx for your answer
peace -
Inappropriate?I have a song that's been "making waveform" for 24 hours, I guess it's the same problem. Not a big problem, just figured I should give you a heads up.
http://soundcloud.com/warfreak2/long-...
I’m unconcerned
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Inappropriate?i eventually gave up on mine. so removed the artwork i had an image embedded adn tried re-uploading it and it worked fine...
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Inappropriate?If I delete it, do I get my upload credit back?1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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not for now, number of uploads is what counts.
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Inappropriate?thats my issue...I have reuploaded a few times for this waveform error...given the beta aroma still exisiting, can you please credit us back for some boogered uploads?
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Inappropriate?Sorry, that track is too hot for us!
Oh, damn! We couldn't create the waveform for your track. We're checking it right now and will try to fix it asap!
Hope you guys work out the kinks.
I’m sad and frustrated
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Inappropriate?"our target goal is to keep the processing time under 1 minute for all tracks."
even big tracks 450+ MB, like DJ sets?
"but at the moment we're still having some trouble with specific files."
is this still the case? If so, which files should not be uploaded?
"also these tracks can affect the performance of the whole system currently."
is this still the case? If so, which files affect the whole system?
"this will change as we build out our uploader/transcoder system, which is happening right now. "
So, if I understand correctly, the Old Skool updater/transcoder was the one that was updated (3-4 months ago) to the one currently in place? And if that's the case, is the uploader tied into the waveform draw? If so, you shouldn't be able to save the upload (and ultimately be able to navigate away from the page) until the waveform has been drawn. As it seems this is where one of my tracks got stuck on waveform drawing...
"it will probably take a few weeks before everything is running really smoothly."
seems like it's back. Any advice of what we should do in the meantime?
"but: normally you shouldn't have to wait more than a minute or so for uploads to get processed."
Even big big big tracks?
I'm not trying to bust your balls here, I just need more information so that I can avoid this for now and continue using soundcloud as the professional service it it trying to be. If this means waiting for the waveform to draw before navigating away from the page, then I will do that considering on average it takes me about 1.5 hours to upload a file, so waiting the 1-2 minutes more (after I have saved) is no problem... I have a PRO account because I make music PROfessionally and am now relying on soundcloud's service for my music business. So, any info, advice, suggestions on this would be great.
I’m getting used to asking questions on the weekend and waiting till the work week for an answer.
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Inappropriate?I have a PRO account and ususally this service works fine but lately been taking hours to get the WAV form to display? Whats going on here?
I’m disappointed
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Inappropriate?I'm having the same problem with creating waveforms. Initially on the first song, the file converted quickly to a waveform. But, now with my second song (and after I paid for the Pro service), the file is taking forever to be converted into a waveform. Can you please help?
I’m frustrated
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Hi Yvette, could you please send me the link to the track, I'll have a look. Creating the waveforms can take a while depending on the file size and depending on heavy uploads to the site. So if many users upload a lot of tracks at the same time during certain times during the day, that might take a while longer than usual to process.
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Inappropriate?for those having problems:
when this happens to me, I just go into edit the track and replace the audio file with the same file I just uploaded. It has always made the wave form nearly immediately after the 2nd upload. I know this takes twice as long, but if you are going to wait 3 hours or a day and check back anyway, this might speed the process along.
Hope this helps.1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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I just tried this with no luck ....
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Inappropriate?Thanks for reporting, Symbio & Yvette, will check back with a developer.
Thanks for the workaround, George, nice one :) -
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Inappropriate?WHEN will this problem be resolved? I just spent the last 2 hours trying to create wave forms... I tried the work around and it didnt work either (replacing songs)
and I see a response from Eric Wahforss 1 year ago, so I guess this has not been resolved.
"hi, we've had massive pressure on our services in the last 2-3 days. we're working hard to improve the transcoding system now. most of the the time it works fine but it chokes on some weird format files and for now these type of errors "clogs" the queue temporarily. This problem will hopefully be fully solved within the next 1-2 weeks."
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?This issue is unresolved from a year ago? Why am I paying for a service that does not work?
I’m pissed off
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Inappropriate?the whole site is slow for me... logging in takes minutes... and my waveforms for a 6 minute track i uploaded STILL aren't up and it's been over 30 minutes.
why am I paying for this?
...
I’m pissed off
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Inappropriate?Really sorry about that, guys. We're on this as I type and are trying to fix asap.
Several "jobs" (image & track uploads, comments, follows/unfollows, etc) have been queued due to an increased load onto the site and we need to fix the bottleneck that resulted because of this. Means, we need to first process the tracks that are queued, create waveforms etc before we can get the flow back in.
We have located the issue just now and word is we will be running faster very soon. Again, apologies and thanks for your patience on this.
We will address the performance issues as a whole just after next week's update. Currently, all four developers are on the upcoming features and updates and we'll have one developer on the performance right after the release. -
Inappropriate?May I ask why the WAV form is required for the track to play? I'm pretty sure a lot of people would be happier if the player just had a temp image that it put up so that the track was at least playable until the proper wav form was created. I like the WAV form, I know it's purpose, but i would rather have a track posted and ready to play more than the image. Especially if I am a paying member ;)2 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
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Could be a good idea but two things here:
The creation of the waveform is also connected to the actual processing and encoding of the streaming file: if we were to "offer" a step in-between, I fear that could also cause more confusion than help, don't you think? -
No. The "step in-between" like you say, should have no user involvement. Therefore no "confusion". It is simple. You change your app... You make it so that when the file is uploaded then it is available for play. The wav form will come as it is created. If the encoding is taking the long process then perhaps you should investigate a different method. I know tons of site that allow you to upload a track and it streams right after. Food for thought...
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Inappropriate?This was a known issue a year ago! How can it still be an "issue?" This is truly unacceptable for a paid service. It's like paying FedEx to ship something and they say: "Sorry, we're working on getting our trucks to actually move but there's a lot of traffic" and then you try a year later and you get the same story. Your business is built on uploading files. If that doesn't work, then what am I paying for? Pretty graphics? Get it together please! Hire more people, Increase your server capacity. One year without a resolution is ridiculous!
I’m really pissed off
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Inappropriate?I just cancelled my pro account (after waiting 10 seconds for a login page to appear)
this is not worth paying for but im ok with it as a free service and ill have to make use of other websites and file servers. perhaps in the future i will upgrade back again to pro if i see improvements with performance.
I’m frustrated
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Really sorry to hear that, Anand and I can understand your frustration. Please know we currently do everything in our powers to improve the performance. Hope to see you back as a PRO user soon.
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Inappropriate?Actually I had no problems uploading until I got a Pro account. And David, no offense, but you don't do everything in your powers to improve the performance. This is an issue that is over a year old. Absolutely unacceptable for a paid service. You should refund everyone's money that paid for a Pro account, fix the service, so it actually works, then try again. That would be the right thing to do. Stop trying to make cool looking players for a bit until you can get BASIC FUNCTIONALITY to work. I'll give this another 24 hours, then I'm canceling my Pro account as well.2 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
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The thread is a year old, yes but we can't call it "this one" problem. Scaling issues are caused by numerous implications that sometimes can't be identified right away. Systems were all go yesterday and overnight that changed and it took us some time to identify to be able to decide how to react. We currently have all three developers on different tasks to fix this and we have help from our hosting provider and more db memory etc. Don't want to go too technical (happy to do so if you wish) but one problem is not the same as the other. Yes, what appears to the user is that the waveform takes longer, what causes this can change.
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Man, I definitely sympathize about different problems appearing to be the same one due simply to symptoms. Best of luck getting the bottleneck sorted.
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Inappropriate?actually i'm a pro user and have no problems at all... -
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Inappropriate?Ok, I'm a new user and am having the "waveform is hung/stuck whatever" problem(s). The file in question is pretty small -- 12.7 megs.
Here's my question: if I close the browser page showing the waveform generation message does the waveform generation/transcoding continue or do I have to keep the browser open to the page?
Couldn't tell from the comments on this thread, but I may have missed it.
Thanks!1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Hey there. Feel free to close the browser window. It will continue to create the waveform.
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Inappropriate?Yup - pro user here and having same problem too.
It's frustrating but I won't be cancelling account - yet.
Is there any indication as to how long this situation will last?
I’m a bit meh
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Well, I just up-loaded, and closed the browser and came back some hours later and it was done - as per David's suggestion above. I assume the problem is with general load on their servers and not with any specific file I'm uploading. We'll see.
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Inappropriate?I uploaded one song at 8PM this evening and it still wasn't ready at 11PM. This really isn't good enough for a company charging rates as high as these. I just checked at 12PM and at last it's ready.
I’m annoyed
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Inappropriate?Well they claim there are multiple different issues causing it. But it seems to me they could throw enough money at the problem to make it go away. I mean, it IS the core functionality of Soundcloud after all
I’m exhausted
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Inappropriate?Late last night we observed around 1000 tracks queued and yet to be processed at the same time. That created a bottleneck in the transcoding causing delays in the processing and creation of the waveform. We've been working on this all day today and are still not through with all the tracks. We will update as soon as we know more.
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Inappropriate?Hey David, What if you had 500 more servers? Would that help the bottleneck?
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Inappropriate?David,
Do you host your own cloud? I assume transcoding these things is processor intensive. Now I'm uploading a straight mp3, so I'm not sure why it needs to be "transcoded" -- or even that the means in this context. It would be interesting to know what value is added.
Perhaps you could add a "low-fi" option and bypass this step. -
Inappropriate?hi,
the transcoding and waveform generation part of SoundCloud is definitely core to what we're doing, and we are making improvements to it almost every week. At the moment we're receiving upwards a *year* worth of music every single day, and this number is growing fast. The transcoding system today is much more sophisticated than it was a year ago–yet any problems with it will yield the same kind of symptoms as they did a year ago–(some) tracks will (very rarely, given how many tracks get uploaded all the time) take hours to process because there's a temporary hick-up somewhere along the line.
You're right in that this should be top priority as SoundCloud is a paid service for professionals. We're going to devote more energy to core functionality like uploading/transcoding/sharing in the future, as these processes should be running smoothly *at all times*–this should take priority over adding any new features.
So we're hearing you loud and clear on that and will do our best to make it rock-solid.
Thanks for your understanding,
Eric (CTO SoundCloud)
I’m confident
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?I have uploaded a track of 58 minutes. I have change more then one type of bitrate but the message is "Sorry, that track is too hot for us!
Oh, damn! We couldn't create the waveform for your track. We're checking it right now and will try to fix it asap!"
The link are http://soundcloud.com/biancardidj/bia...
I’m unconcerned
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Inappropriate?I've been unable to upload any new releases from my label to Soundcloud for over a week, close to two. I was planning on paying for a pro account but this has made me think twice. -
Inappropriate?A few days ago I received a very apologetic email from David at Soundcloud with the assurance that things would be improved. Well, I have uploaded 2 tracks over the last couple of days with no problems whatsoever so on the strength of that, I think the guys are finally getting it together!!
I’m Happy!
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Inappropriate?ame here - no waveforms.
very disappointed that I have paid for this at the moment.
Can someone please look into this for me?
http://soundcloud.com/stewart-d/01-ho...
Thanks,
Stewart
I’m annoyed
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Inappropriate?Tried uploading the same song 3 times now. Gonna try reupload it without an image (not that that should make any difference)
First time this has happened to me so I can't complain too much.
I’m anxious
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Still the same.
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Inappropriate?http://soundcloud.com/arbre/mixenbois...
First song that I upload and it can't make the waveform ...
Do I have to upload it again maybe in a different format ?
Thx
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Hi there,
we discovered this morning that a number of tracks couldn't be processed over the weekend caused by a problem we're currently investigating over at our hosting provider. At the moment we're seeing that the problem persists for some (but not all) tracks.
Our developers are on line with the folks over at hosting company as it looks that the issue is on their end not ours. I've just seen the ticket over on their tracking system and it is being taken care of right now.
A first report shows that the tracks uploaded yesterday and today are safe and still need to get processed correctly.
I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, please know we have our people pressing them to resolve this issue fast.
I'll post updates here as soon as they come in.
Thanks,
David -
Inappropriate?Upgraded to a premium account last night, super excited to begin really using my SoundCloud account and I just got the dreaded error this AM ...
Sorry, that track is too hot for us!
Oh, damn! We couldn't create the waveform for your track. We're checking it right now and will try to fix it asap!
I’m not impressed
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Inappropriate?Hey guys,
finally an update. After our hosting provider fixed the issues on their end, we were able to reprocess all files that had gone AWOL yesterday and today. We will continue to assess what went wrong with our provider and will continue to improve this.
We appreciate your patience on this.
David -
Inappropriate?I uploaded some audio and it's been literally hours - I think over 4 hours now and it simply isn't working. It seems amazing that a site who's main feature is the upload and sharing of audio does not work... surely you guys are losing people all the time as they go elsewhere and surely it effects your credibility!? I like SoundCloud and also supported by buying the iPhone APP but I'm considering other options now.
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?Hi, I uploaded an hour spoken word mp3 yesterday afternoon, and I'm getting the same message as others posted here. Just a heads up really, I'm not sure if I need to reupload it. rather not as it took me 40 minutes to do it last time.
I’m undecided
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Inappropriate?WTF??!! i got it too after smooth sailin for a while...
"CRIKEY MATE!!!! theres a gator eatin your waveforms"
was my message today!!
I’m amused
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Inappropriate?I've got the same problem. It's taking too long 'Creating Waveforms'.
I've not managed to upload 1 track to Soundcloud successfully yet!!
AVG link scanner was stopping track upload, so not strictly soundclouds fault, though some wanring of conflict with such a common prg would have been helpful.
Then, when i finally get the track uploaded, the artwork doesn't seem to upload though it is a 1.2 mb jpeg.
Then, im stuck on 'Creating Waveforms'.
I do not have the time to mess around with this BS anymore. I'll check back later to see if theres any reply on this thread, give it one more go, and if that fails then im giving up on this.
I spend my time making music, not F'ing around with sites like this which don't even work properly.
Shame too, if it had worked i would have got a Pro account.
I’m pissed off with soundcloud
2 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
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Is it this one? http://soundcloud.com/mr-spleen/mirac...
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Thanks for the reply David. I've calmed down now haha.
I just tried uploading the pic again and that works too.
Hopefully that was a rare error before. I'll keep trying with soundcloud, i do want to like this.
Cheers
Dan -
Inappropriate?ok i confirm this problem. just uploaded a 873kb mp3 file and it took over 32mins and counting. i just deleted it and am tring again.....
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?hmm, mines still not fixed after a week. How do you delete them to try again from scratch?2 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
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on my second try...30mins are up. so i spent totally 1 hour and 2 mins so far to load a 873kb mp3.
to delete on your track, click on "More Options". then delete will be the last option. However i dont think its gonna solve the problem. It seems to me in the pipeline something is stuck. So if you delete it you end up at the end of the Q. I am going to use box.net now, i cant wait one hour for a small mp3 to be uploaded -
This comment was removed on 11/30/09.
see the change log -
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Inappropriate?hmm, just uploaded about 30 minutes DJ set, and its making waveform like ... 30 minutes ? I feel like tossing my notebook outa window now3 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
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We're reprocessing the files now, there was an outage this morning at 4am CET at our hosting provider
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Hmmm... sounds like your host provider sucks... no power backup / generator? Hmmmm... that's not good. There are redundancies in place for the storage though.... right....? I would hate to think what would happen if a RAID array got corrupt... with host providers, there only two important things: redundancy and power backup. Oh, and a good firewall I guess... (probably more, I know, but still)
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It's AWS so they know their game and we could've reacted faster and balance the load earlier if it wouldn't have been 4am in the morning.
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Inappropriate?This problem started to happen for me a few days ago too after FLAWLESS performance by SoundCloud for months. I've been a user for many months.
I gather it's an ongoing outage problem? Please advise? Have been trying to get a waveform to be created for mp3 (about 7MB) for hours, having discarded several other tracks in different formats (ie;bigger files)...
Thank you.
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Inappropriate?Is the service working or not? After reading all the posts here it looks as rulete.
Rgds, Matt
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Inappropriate?I've been unable to upload for 1 1/2 weeks now. Nice site but rather pointless if it won't work. Uploads stuck in the 93-95% range. really can't be bothered anymore.
Hugh
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Hugh - 1 1/2 weeks? That's odd. What happens with the old-skool uploader? Also, do you have an AVG virus scanner installed? According to previous reports that has prevented uploads. What browser do you use?
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