Search the Community

FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE THINKING TO BUY NVIVO FOR MAC I was facing problems with importing audio in NVivo for Mac. I have installed version 11.1.1. not long ago but still when I was trying to import MP3s NVivo told me that the format is not allowed. While the import of an MP3 in the morning was successful, I had problems to import another MP3 in the afternoon. So I tried if the first file from the morning would be imported - and it did not. The message was always the same: that the file format has not been recognized. I found out that the problem seems to be my external audio interface (AVID MBox). I bought this external audio system not only for my music profession but also because it is annoying to me to listen for hours to my interviews by using the internal speakers of the Macbook or the headphones. I found out the following: If my system audio is set to use the MBox, the import problem appears. I tested this in the NVivo sample project as well. With my MBox activated as audio output I can open the Helen interview but I can not play it. The player window appears different than normal. In this state I can not import my own interviews in MP3 and also not a "normal" music MP3. If I set my system audio output on my internal speakers the player window appears again normal, I can play the audio file and import my own interview MP3s. This is definitely a big issue which NVIVO should solve immediately! I am definitely unsatisfied. I am expecting from a professional program that such basic things work. Why should a professional program have problems with external devices I am using? After all I am using external monitors, keyboard, mouse, printer - why should I not be able to use an external audio interface which is especially useful for such a program like NVivo? Here the answer from NVivo support: "Our technical team has advised us that the problem probably arises due to a driver incompatibility, possibly with the external audio interface not supporting the playback rates that NVivo uses. Some third party external audio cards are known to cause these issues. So the issue appears to be the drivers for the AVID MBox, over which we have little control. The workaround is to set the internal speaker as output device, which you are already using." I am expecting that NVivo faces this issue as soon as possible and that this problem should not be regarded as unsolvable problem of the third party devices. I am using NVivo for Mac since a while now. Aside from this issue, I am a but upset with NVivo: the Mac version is still very very limited, with many functionalities not implemented yet but which you can find in the Windows version. As long as such issues will not be solved and functionalities implemented, I do not recommend anybody to buy NVivo for Mac!