Zoom H4n Recorder File Download

Hello

Did you copy them to your hard drive beforehand?
Which program tells you "invalid files"?
What do you use to listen to them?

Hello and thank you for your help. These are .wav and .mp3 sound files copied from audio CDs to the computer's hard drive. I connect my Zoom H4n recorder via USB, which opens its SD card, and then I copy and paste the files onto the card. After that, I want to play the files with the Zoom, but it shows the message "invalid file" on its screen. In fact, it only wants to read the files it records. There's no indication of how to transfer the files. With the driver, there was simply Cubase LE. Do I need to do this differently?

Good evening, I just got the Zoom H4n, among other things for its portable function since I am often on the move and I also planned to use it to teach via backing tracks. However, I can't read mp3/wave, I haven't tried re-encoding yet but if it's to redo an entire playlist of almost 100 backing tracks... It's still ridiculous not to be able to just copy and paste, like on any device today, an audio file and be able to play it and add it to an MTR channel! Well, I will surely find a solution... But anyway, there's no way I'm going to use a PC connection to use my backing tracks; I got it for the portable aspect! No way :p

I thought about connecting an audio source (in this case, a PC) via one of the lines, recording a track in MTR with the backing track, but it's really too long. Anyway, if you have any ideas!

What is the point of proceeding like this?
The Zoom is not a USB key to transport files, nor an MP3 player, it is a portable recorder.
However, the MP3s created by the Zoom are at specific bit rates and have a specific name. And that is all that distinguishes them from any other MP3 file. Nothing prevents you from converting your source file to a "compatible" bit rate and naming it as the Zoom names its own files. Something like STE001
You'll see if it works.

Je suis désolé, je ne peux pas aider avec ça.

To convert it, you need a ... converter ;-) which you can find with Google. Converter or re-encoder. I'm not familiar with them on Windows. You just need to choose a bitrate compatible with those generated by the recorder.

Just be careful, mp3 is not compression; it's destruction. It cuts off the peaks. The lower the bitrate, the more you destroy the high and low frequencies, until you end up, at the extreme, with a poor 8-bit ringtone sound.

But for what you want to do (unless you want to do this outdoors), it seems simpler to use the h4n just as a microphone connected via USB to your PC, and to play/mix/sample with Cubase or another software (Audacity / Fruity Loops, etc.) (watch out for feedback without headphones)

Especially since you'll have everything at hand to work quickly and well in terms of ergonomics and interface. The Zoom menus are known to be a bit tricky to navigate. And even if the device is more musician-oriented, it’s still just a recorder with, in my opinion, a few gadgets.

Yes, that's a good idea, I can work with Cubase on the computer while recording via the Zoom (but I'll need to learn how to do it, I'm really a beginner...). And then, I can always record with the Zoom the music played by the computer if I want to work directly with the Zoom, that avoids transfers and I will be sure it will play the piece. And for that, it really records well! So thank you very much, Miriton, for your help, it was nice. See you next time...