Windows media Player-MP3 probs

Hi ,
Am having problems with Media Player under Windows ME , it plays audio CDs fine but MP3 files are distorted with loads of clicks and pops, the sound card in use is a Creative Soundblaster 128PCI . It also gives same symptoms reading MP3s off a CD , at first I thought the MP3 files were bad but this isn't the case. Anybody come across this problem ?. Thanks for your help.
Mike
PS MB is a Shuttle AK10 , CPU is AMD Duron 700MHZ

 

Have you tried playing the files in question using another media player on the same system? Which version of WMP are you running?

 

Hi Bret,
Thanks for the reply , yes I tried the latest Winamp which gave the same symptoms, perfect on audio CDs , pops and clicks on MP3s, maybe a little better than WMP , the version no. is 7.01.00.3055
Mike

 

Just discovered that .wav files play with the same distortion and pops/clicks as MP3s !!
Mike

 

AFAIK, there are three possible causes:-

1) Poorly encoded tracks. You've stated that they *do* play ok (presumably on someone else's machine?), but maybe it would be worth trying to uncook one anyway; and/or

2) Your speakers - the average set of computer speakers are not ideal for listening to music; maybe you could try jacking your computer to your stereo? Alternatively, you could try listening through (decent) headphones to see whether there is any noticeable improvement' and/or

3) Your soundcard is rather "bottom of the range ": not much you can do about this other than replace it.

Hmmm ... one other thing to try - try playing the tracks with Winamp but using the MAD plug-in.

 

I too, have a similiar problem to this. Only I know the mp3s are good. They are 128 and better bitrates and they sound like a typical mp3 when burned to Cd in PCM format. I downloaded winamp and the clicking and static for the most part disappeared. Does media player have poor mp3 decoders? And does the clicking and static happen with or more with variable bitrate encoded mp3s?

 

OK ! , I've spent several hours trying to solve the problem including re-installing Windows ME from scratch onto a spare hard drive , also downloading what should have been the spot-on drivers for the Sound Card from the Creative site , this resulted in even worse distortion. Finally replaced the sound card with an even more bog-standard example from another manufacturer , result - crystal clear, pop/click and distortion-free sound on all formats (CDA,MP3 and WAV files). Can only assume the card was faulty , only other clue was that on installing drivers/applications for the replacement card WMP seems to have been re-installed with defaults ,though like Joshua's experience Winamp seemed to be less unbearable to listen to than WMP so blaming WMP entirely for the problem is not a satisfactory explanation, I think it may have bean something to do with Creative's DEVCON application though it's a bit of a shot in the dark. Thanks for the replies anyway, they were an inspiration for me to persevere.