Question about Java Sound example?

Question

Hello,
I found this example AudioPlayer, when searching for an example of how to play .wav files in Java.
The code seems quite long, and wondered if anyone could advise if this is the best way to play a wav file?
And could anyone explain if the EXTERNAL_BUFFER_SIZE should allows be set to 128000;
Thank you
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.sound.sampled.AudioFormat;
import javax.sound.sampled.AudioInputStream;
import javax.sound.sampled.AudioSystem;
import javax.sound.sampled.DataLine;
import javax.sound.sampled.LineUnavailableException;
import javax.sound.sampled.SourceDataLine;
public class SimpleAudioPlayer
     private static final int     EXTERNAL_BUFFER_SIZE = 128000;
     public static void main(String[] args)
            We check that there is exactely one command-line
            argument.
            If not, we display the usage message and exit.
          if (args.length != 1)
               printUsageAndExit();
            Now, that we're shure there is an argument, we
            take it as the filename of the soundfile
            we want to play.
          String     strFilename = args[0];
          File     soundFile = new File(strFilename);
            We have to read in the sound file.
          AudioInputStream     audioInputStream = null;
          try
               audioInputStream = AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(soundFile);
          catch (Exception e)
                 In case of an exception, we dump the exception
                 including the stack trace to the console output.
                 Then, we exit the program.
               e.printStackTrace();
               System.exit(1);
            From the AudioInputStream, i.e. from the sound file,
            we fetch information about the format of the
            audio data.
            These information include the sampling frequency,
            the number of
            channels and the size of the samples.
            These information
            are needed to ask Java Sound for a suitable output line
            for this audio file.
          AudioFormat     audioFormat = audioInputStream.getFormat();
            Asking for a line is a rather tricky thing.
            We have to construct an Info object that specifies
            the desired properties for the line.
            First, we have to say which kind of line we want. The
            possibilities are: SourceDataLine (for playback), Clip
            (for repeated playback)     and TargetDataLine (for
            recording).
            Here, we want to do normal playback, so we ask for
            a SourceDataLine.
            Then, we have to pass an AudioFormat object, so that
            the Line knows which format the data passed to it
            will have.
            Furthermore, we can give Java Sound a hint about how
            big the internal buffer for the line should be. This
            isn't used here, signaling that we
            don't care about the exact size. Java Sound will use
            some default value for the buffer size.
          SourceDataLine     line = null;
          DataLine.Info     info = new DataLine.Info(SourceDataLine.class,
                                                             audioFormat);
          try
               line = (SourceDataLine) AudioSystem.getLine(info);
                 The line is there, but it is not yet ready to
                 receive audio data. We have to open the line.
               line.open(audioFormat);
          catch (LineUnavailableException e)
               e.printStackTrace();
               System.exit(1);
          catch (Exception e)
               e.printStackTrace();
               System.exit(1);
            Still not enough. The line now can receive data,
            but will not pass them on to the audio output device
            (which means to your sound card). This has to be
            activated.
          line.start();
            Ok, finally the line is prepared. Now comes the real
            job: we have to write data to the line. We do this
            in a loop. First, we read data from the
            AudioInputStream to a buffer. Then, we write from
            this buffer to the Line. This is done until the end
            of the file is reached, which is detected by a
            return value of -1 from the read method of the
            AudioInputStream.
          int     nBytesRead = 0;
          byte[]     abData = new byte[EXTERNAL_BUFFER_SIZE];
          while (nBytesRead != -1)
               try
                    nBytesRead = audioInputStream.read(abData, 0, abData.length);
               catch (IOException e)
                    e.printStackTrace();
               if (nBytesRead >= 0)
                    int     nBytesWritten = line.write(abData, 0, nBytesRead);
            Wait until all data are played.
            This is only necessary because of the bug noted below.
            (If we do not wait, we would interrupt the playback by
            prematurely closing the line and exiting the VM.)
            Thanks to Margie Fitch for bringing me on the right
            path to this solution.
          line.drain();
            All data are played. We can close the shop.
          line.close();
            There is a bug in the jdk1.3/1.4.
            It prevents correct termination of the VM.
            So we have to exit ourselves.
          System.exit(0);
     private static void printUsageAndExit()
          out("SimpleAudioPlayer: usage:");
          out("\tjava SimpleAudioPlayer <soundfile>");
          System.exit(1);
     private static void out(String strMessage)
          System.out.println(strMessage);
}

Answer 1

I didnot go thru the code you posted but I know that the following workstry {
        // From file
        AudioInputStream stream = AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(new File("audiofile"));
        // From URL
        stream = AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(new URL("http://hostname/audiofile"));
        // At present, ALAW and ULAW encodings must be converted
        // to PCM_SIGNED before it can be played
        AudioFormat format = stream.getFormat();
        if (format.getEncoding() != AudioFormat.Encoding.PCM_SIGNED) {
            format = new AudioFormat(
                    AudioFormat.Encoding.PCM_SIGNED,
                    format.getSampleRate(),
                    format.getSampleSizeInBits()*2,
                    format.getChannels(),
                    format.getFrameSize()*2,
                    format.getFrameRate(),
                    true);        // big endian
            stream = AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(format, stream);
        // Create the clip
        DataLine.Info info = new DataLine.Info(
            Clip.class, stream.getFormat(), ((int)stream.getFrameLength()*format.getFrameSize()));
        Clip clip = (Clip) AudioSystem.getLine(info);
        // This method does not return until the audio file is completely loaded
        clip.open(stream);
        // Start playing
        clip.start();
    } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
    } catch (IOException e) {
    } catch (LineUnavailableException e) {
    } catch (UnsupportedAudioFileException e) {
    }