axim-nk

I took the bull by the horns and spent another hour on the issue. There are in fact three problems lurking:

1. Impossibly designed PocketPC feature. A program that plays sound will play sound only if the Programs box in Start->Settings->Personal->Sounds&Notications is checked. This is most confusing, because there are exceptions to this rule, such as the Windows Media Player. Moreover, this box may not be checked by default. Awful, morose design, Microsoft :exc:
2. File association. By default, the file association of .wav files must point to sndplayer.exe. After having tried other players in desperation, you may have changed this file association due to sloppy uninstallation procedures in the software you tried. If the little retangular box with a triangle (for play) comes up when you try to listen to a .wav file, then the .wav file association is OK and you don't need to read on.
   
   In my case, gsplayer screwed up the part of my registry that deals with .wav files. The solution is to use a register editor to reenact the correct .wav association. In particular, I believe that \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wav should contain a Default key with value wawfile and that the wavfile\Shell\Open\Command should contain a Default key with the value sndplay.exe %1. At least, those two settings seemed to revert my PocketPC.
3. Improper .wav files. Voicemail attachments I get from Stanaphone work fine on PocketPC. But voicemail attachments I get from AT&T Callvantage do not work. The difference between the two is that Stanaphone properly tag their .wav file (with bitrate information etc.), AT&T does not. I have complained to AT&T about this.