def _reader_factory(name, filetype, descr):
    """Factory for reader functions ala matlab."""
    def basic_reader(filename, last = None, first = 0):
        """Common "template" to all read functions."""
        hdl = Sndfile(filename, 'r')
        try:
            if not hdl.format.file_format == filetype:
                raise ValueError, "%s is not a %s file (is %s)" \
                      % (filename, filetype, hdl.format.file_format)

            fs = hdl.samplerate
            enc = hdl.encoding
            # Set the pointer to start position
            nf  = hdl.seek(first, 1)
            if not nf == first:
                raise IOError("Error while seeking at starting position")

            if last is None:
                nframes = hdl.nframes - first
                data    = hdl.read_frames(nframes)
            else:
                data    = hdl.read_frames(last)
        finally:
            hdl.close()

        return data, fs, enc
    doc = \
    """Simple reader for %(format)s audio files.

    Parameters
    ----------
    filename : str
        Name of the file to read
    last : int
        Last frame to read. If None, this is equal to the number of frames in
        the file.
    first : int
        First frame to read. If 0, means starting from the beginning of the
        file.

    Returns
    -------
    data : array
        the read data (one column per channel)
    fs : int
        the sampling rate
    enc : str
        the encoding of the file, such as 'pcm16', 'float32', etc...

    Notes
    -----
    For total control over options, such as output's dtype, etc...,
    you should use Sndfile class instances instead""" % {'format': str(descr)}
    basic_reader.__doc__    = doc
    basic_reader.__name__   = name
    return basic_reader