sub cat_waves(@){
   my ($out, @list)=@_;
   my $me = whoami(); # $me is like "Util::cat_waves", i.e "this" subroutine name
   my $BUFSIZE = 8 * 2**10;
   myprint ("$me: Creating \"$out\" using ".scalar@list." input \".wav\" files...");
   unless ( (defined ($out)) && (@list >0) ){
      showfailed( "$me - Internal Error: not enough arguments supplied");
      return;
   }   
   # The final output file format will be:
      	# "RIFF"    (4 bytes)
      	# riff size (4 bytes) (total bytes that follow from here)
      	# voice format info (42 bytes) #some weird voodoo is in here
      	# "data"    (4 bytes)
      	# data size (4 bytes) (voice bytes that follow from here)
      	# all of the voice data (n bytes), must be word aligned.
   	# EOF
   # 4 byte integers are Intel, VAX "little endian" convention.
   # Some of the standard company voice edited .wav files contain other
   # weird segments after the voice data segment. These will be deleted in
   # the final concatentated .wav file.
   
   my ($new_data_size, @data_file_info) = get_data_sizes(@list);  
   my $new_riff_size = $new_data_size + 42+8;  #allow for wave format info + DATA header
   
   myprint ("New File: \"$out\" will be created now...");
   myprint ("   total file size   = ",$new_riff_size + 8);
   myprint ("   RIFF segment size = $new_riff_size");
   myprint ("   DATA segment size = $new_data_size");
   
   open (OUTBIN, ">$out") || showfailed("$me: unable to open $out");
   binmode(OUTBIN)	  || showfailed("$me: unable to set binmode $out");
   my $buff;
   
   # write the new RIFF header to the output file.
   
   my $header_file = $list[0];  #"steal" the header from first input file
   myprint ("Using header info from file: $header_file");
   open(INBIN, "<$header_file") || showfailed("$me: unable to open $header_file");
   binmode(INBIN)               || showfailed("$me: unable to set binmode $header_file");
   my $n_bytes = read(INBIN, $buff, $BUFSIZE);
   ($n_bytes > 58)              || showfailed("$me: too few bytes ($n_bytes) in $header_file");
   my $rsize = pack("V4", $new_riff_size); # "V4" means Vax or Intel "little endian"
   substr($buff,4,4) = substr($rsize,0,4);
   my $data_size = pack("V4", $new_data_size);
   substr($buff,54,4)= substr($data_size,0,4);
   print OUTBIN substr($buff,0,58);
   close INBIN 			|| showfailed("$me: unable to close $header_file");
   
   #now just extract the data from all the .wav files and append to OUTBIN
   
   while (@data_file_info){
      my ($wave, $xfer) = @data_file_info;
      open(INBIN, "<$wave") || showfailed ("$me: unable to open $wave");
      binmode(INBIN)        || showfailed ("$me: unable to set binmode $wave");
      myprint ("Appending voice data from $wave...");
      my $i_buf_low=58;   #don't transfer the initial header stuff in the RIFF files.
      while ($xfer>0){
         my $n_buf_bytes = read(INBIN, my $buff, $BUFSIZE);
         my $n = $n_buf_bytes - $i_buf_low;  
         if ($xfer-$n <0 ){$n = $xfer;}   #don't xfer past the end of current data segment.
         $xfer -= $n;      
         print OUTBIN substr($buff,$i_buf_low,$n);
         $i_buf_low = 0;
      } 
    close (INBIN) 	    || showfailed ("$me: unable to close $wave");
    } #end of while (@data_file_info)
     
    close(OUTBIN) 	    || showfailed ("$me: unable to close $out");
    myprint ("$me: Success \"$out\" has been created!");
    return;
} #end of cat_waves()