AudioFile (company)
Encyclopedia
AudioFile was a software company that was founded in Massachusetts in 1990. It was founded under Venture Capital Investment by the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation.
Their early product was AudioFile Business Audio, a suite of applications that included AudioRecorder, a program to embed audio into email and documents, and AudioEditor, a program to edit audio and apply various effects to the audio. The software included Audio timescale-pitch modification
, the ability to change the speed of audio without changing the pitch, and a codec
to compress audio to approximately 36 times the size of uncompressed audio to save disk space and reduce bandwidth when sending via email. AudioFile Business Audio evolved into TalkWorks
, a program designed to allow computers equipped with an appropriate fax
-modem
to act as a software-based telephone answering machine, for receiving voice mail as well as faxes, and a virtual telephone/speaker phone with speed dial and other buttons.
AudioFile was bought by Delrina
in October 1994, and its technology was bundled into WinFax as part of CommSuite 95
. Delrina was subsequently bought out in 1995 by Symantec
, and continued its development. Its voice mail capabilities were options available to WinFax PRO 7.0, 7.5 and 8.0. Symantec later sold TalkWorks as separate products named TalkWorks PRO 2.0 (August 1998) and TalkWorks PRO 3.0 (August 1999). The last version of WinFax
, version 10, did not include any TalkWorks functionality.
Their early product was AudioFile Business Audio, a suite of applications that included AudioRecorder, a program to embed audio into email and documents, and AudioEditor, a program to edit audio and apply various effects to the audio. The software included Audio timescale-pitch modification
Audio timescale-pitch modification
Time stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch.Pitch scaling or pitch shifting is the opposite: the process of changing the pitch without affecting the speed...
, the ability to change the speed of audio without changing the pitch, and a codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
to compress audio to approximately 36 times the size of uncompressed audio to save disk space and reduce bandwidth when sending via email. AudioFile Business Audio evolved into TalkWorks
TalkWorks
TalkWorks was a program designed to allow computers equipped with an appropriate fax-modem to act as a voice mail program.Original work was done on the program by AudioFile, a company that specialized in computer-based voice technology. This firm was bought by Delrina in 1994, which then rolled...
, a program designed to allow computers equipped with an appropriate fax
Fax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
-modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
to act as a software-based telephone answering machine, for receiving voice mail as well as faxes, and a virtual telephone/speaker phone with speed dial and other buttons.
AudioFile was bought by Delrina
Delrina
Delrina was a Canadian software company founded by four individuals, Dennis Bennie as CEO and chairman, Mark Skapinker as president, Bert Amato as executive vice president and chief technical officer and Lou Ryan as executive vice president of world wide sales...
in October 1994, and its technology was bundled into WinFax as part of CommSuite 95
CommSuite 95
CommSuite 95 was a communications software "suite" of products launched by the Canadian software company Delrina in December, 1995. It was a 32-bit based program created specifically for use in Windows 95...
. Delrina was subsequently bought out in 1995 by Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
, and continued its development. Its voice mail capabilities were options available to WinFax PRO 7.0, 7.5 and 8.0. Symantec later sold TalkWorks as separate products named TalkWorks PRO 2.0 (August 1998) and TalkWorks PRO 3.0 (August 1999). The last version of WinFax
WinFax
WinFax is a Microsoft Windows-based software product designed to let computers equipped with fax-modems to communicate directly to stand-alone fax machines, or other similarly equipped computers.-History:...
, version 10, did not include any TalkWorks functionality.