Android MediaPlayer prepare failed: status = 0x1

Question

I'm building an audio recorder that needs to play back the recorded sound. I'm running into a lot of trouble playing back the audio. I know that the file exists because I isolated it into a folder on my SD Card, but for some reason it can't play it back.

Here is my code:

public class RecorderEditActivity extends SherlockActivity implements
    DatabaseHelper.MetadataListener {

private long position;

private Button playButton = null;
private TextView date = null;
private EditText title = null;
private EditText notes = null;
private Button saveButton = null;

private MediaPlayer mediaPlayer = null;
private boolean isPlaying = false;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    setContentView(R.layout.edit_item);

    position = getIntent().getExtras().getLong(DatabaseHelper.KEY_ROWID);

    playButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.play);
    date = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.recording_date);
    title = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_title);
    notes = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_notes);
    saveButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.save_edit_button);

    mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer();

    DatabaseHelper.getInstance(getApplicationContext()).getMetadataAsync(
            position, this);

    playButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            if (!isPlaying) {
                playButton.setText(R.string.stop_text);
                try {
                    mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
                    mediaPlayer
                            .setDataSource("sdcard/test/"
                                    + date.toString() + ".3gp");
                    mediaPlayer.prepare();
                    mediaPlayer.start();
                    mediaPlayer.setOnCompletionListener(new MediaPlayer.OnCompletionListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onCompletion(MediaPlayer mp) {
                            mp.stop();
                        }
                    });
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    Log.e(e.getClass().getName(), e.getMessage(), e);
                }
            } else {
                playButton.setText(R.string.play_text);
                mediaPlayer.release();
            }
            isPlaying = !isPlaying;
        }
    });

Here are the errors from LogCat:

03-20 00:33:40.963: E/MediaPlayer(21268): error (1, -2147483648)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268): Prepare failed.: status=0x1
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268): java.io.IOException: Prepare failed.: status=0x1
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.media.MediaPlayer.prepare(Native Method)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at com.packagename.soundrecorder.RecorderEditActivity$1.onClick(RecorderEditActivity.java:56)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:4204)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:17355)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:725)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5041)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:793)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:560)
03-20 00:33:40.963: E/java.io.IOException(21268):   at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Hopefully someone can help me interpret and solve this problem. I've done a ton of research and nothing I do helps. Thanks :)

Abdomen

In your code mediaPlayer object is being created twice i.e. once outside the loops and then in onClick function. Have you tried removing the mediaPlayer object before the getInstance call? – Dermatosis

please post the file you are trying to play – Phenyl

do you have <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/> in your manifest file? – Phenyl

Answer 1

I figured it out: Stupid mistakes as usual. I forgot to add the read external memory permission, and I have Vasily to thank for that fix because of your comment above. The other thing was that I didn't call getText() on my date TextView so it didn't properly set the file name.

Abdomen

Could you accept this as the valid answer please. Thanks. – Ingles

Answer 2

I think you are facing the issue due to an incorrect DataSource being set to your MediaPlayer. Can you please try your setDataSource with the following change

mediaPlayer.setDataSource("file://sdcard/test/"
             + date.toString() + ".3gp");

I think with this change, your code should work fine

EDIT: Please check this post MediaPlayer Preparing Failed for more details on the reason behind prefixing file:// to your file name.

Dermatosis

Answer 3

I hope following code will help:

String soundPath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath() + "test/" + date.toString() + ".mp3";
mediaPlayer.setDataSource(soundPath);

Aureomycin