C# Google Speech api v2 returning empty string

Question

I had the google speech v2 API working perfectly fine about a week ago and it was returning results with no problems however testing it today with the same .flac file keeps returning "{\\"result\\":[]}" no matter what I try. Wondering if A) Anyone else is having this problem or B) Anyone has a solution to my problem my code is below thanks!

        public static String gvoice ()
    {
        //set the input file name
        FileStream fileStream = File.OpenRead(@"test1.flac");
        MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
        memoryStream.SetLength(fileStream.Length);
        fileStream.Read(memoryStream.GetBuffer(), 0, (int)fileStream.Length);
        byte[] BA_AudioFile = memoryStream.GetBuffer();
        HttpWebRequest _HWR_SpeechToText = null;

        //this points to the google speech API (key goes at end after &key=)
        _HWR_SpeechToText =
        (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create(
        "https://www.google.com/speech-api/v2/recognize?output=json&lang=en-us&key=" + key);

        _HWR_SpeechToText.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
        _HWR_SpeechToText.Method = "POST";
        //sets kMhz and file type (flac)
        _HWR_SpeechToText.ContentType = "audio/x-flac; rate=44100";
        _HWR_SpeechToText.ContentLength = BA_AudioFile.Length;
        Stream stream = _HWR_SpeechToText.GetRequestStream();
        stream.Write(BA_AudioFile, 0, BA_AudioFile.Length);
        stream.Close();
        HttpWebResponse HWR_Response = (HttpWebResponse)_HWR_SpeechToText.GetResponse();
        if (HWR_Response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
        {
            StreamReader SR_Response = new StreamReader(HWR_Response.GetResponseStream());
            string result = SR_Response.ReadToEnd();
            return result;
        }
        else
        {
            return "error";
        }


    }

Answer 1

The requirements for the sound file have changed. It should be a MONO Flac file at 16000 rate

Answer 2

A) Anyone else is having this problem

Sure, Google impose usage limits on the API which makes it less practical than you might think.

or B) Anyone has a solution to my problem my code is below thanks!

Use other API's, there are many of them.