Can't play MP3s

[Doug]

Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who take the
time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious one, and I have
no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could be causing it. I'll
try to be very descriptive...for more details just ask:

The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including winamp 2,
2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a matter of fact I
get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive. What I mean by clearly is
that if I'm playing a song lets say, the music is loud and clear, but the
singers lyrics can hardly be heard. Basically, the song sounds as if it
were recorded in a church where the echo would drown out any words in the
song, and actually, this echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must
admit it's very hard to describe.

The System: Pentium 200 Mhz, yes its old, but all worked fine 1 month ago
(I've posted with regards to this problem before, but then when I thought it
wen't away, it's back now...fresh after an all complete system reinstall),
32 megs or RAM. Like I said, it played mp3's fine 1 month ago, and I have a
Pentium 133Mhz with 16 megs or RAM playes MP3s just fine!

Actions taken up to now: as I stated, this problem occured before, and then
went away again. It was suggested by a few that this problem could be
caused by add-ware shipped with kazaa. When the problem again came back (2
days ago), I finally decided to re-format the entire system (fdisk, format
...the whole nine yards), then installed win95 and win 98 (clean and from
scratch). After getting win98 installed on the system, I installed the
basic drivers for sound card, network adapter, video driver, and then tried
winamp. And to my complete surprise, the same thing happens, the song/audio
file, etc.. playes really strange, with a sort of echo in the background
with the lyrics drown out by the instrmentals (almost as if the "lyric
layer" was decreased in volume while the "song layer" was increased in
volume - if that's making any sense). Then I tried Windows Media Player
6.4, and the exact same thing occurs, can't play avi's, mp3... (didn't try
other compressed audio formats). It does play cd's, but that of course is
no surprise as playing cd format cd's isn't all that difficult for a cd-rom.
I should also mention that when I play these songs on any player, my
processor activity does not rise above 5%, thus eliminating the possibility
that the old pentium is having problems keeping up with the decompression.
Also, I was suspecting the sound card, but as already mentioned, I can play
cd's just fine...

Well, that's all I can think of which seems relevent for the time being...
.

Doug

[paul s]

Post by Doug
Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who take the
time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious one, and I have
no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could be causing it. I'll
The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including winamp 2,
2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a matter of fact I
get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive. What I mean by clearly is
that if I'm playing a song lets say, the music is loud and clear, but the
singers lyrics can hardly be heard. Basically, the song sounds as if it
were recorded in a church where the echo would drown out any words in the
song, and actually, this echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must
admit it's very hard to describe.

Sounds like you got a SoundBlaster Live! or something, and the
environmental audio settings are playing up. Try installing the latest
drivers.

[Doug]

This is what I get for getting a brand name computer. It's a hp 8140
pavilion,
and there are no newer drivers for it. But also, how could possibly this be
caused by sound
card settings if EVERYTHING was re-installed?

Doug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who take the
time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious one, and I have
no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could be causing it.

I'll

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including winamp 2,
2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a matter of fact I
get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive. What I mean by clearly is
that if I'm playing a song lets say, the music is loud and clear, but the
singers lyrics can hardly be heard. Basically, the song sounds as if it
were recorded in a church where the echo would drown out any words in the
song, and actually, this echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must
admit it's very hard to describe.

Sounds like you got a SoundBlaster Live! or something, and the
environmental audio settings are playing up. Try installing the latest
drivers.
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Microsoft: The company that made E-mail dangerous. -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[paul s]

Post by Doug
This is what I get for getting a brand name computer. It's a hp 8140
pavilion,
and there are no newer drivers for it. But also, how could possibly
this be caused by sound
card settings if EVERYTHING was re-installed?

I assume that the re-install was done from the HP supplied CD, which
should put it back to a factory supplied state. Looks like it could be
faulty sound-hardware then.

I think that computer has the sound built into the mainboard, your best
option would be to disable it, usually done in the BIOS settings. And get
a PCI soundcard, as that machine has spare PCI slots. If you don't want to
open it up then an external USB based solution should work. Like a SB
Extigy.

[Doug]

Actually, the re-install was done using win95 and win98 cd's. I found all
the drivers for
all the hp hardware sometime ago on the net and used those. Except for one
hardware piece
I was never able to find, the sound card. It's an analog devices 1815/16
and if I recall correctly
(and I haven't opened up the case in a long time), I think it's a PCI sound
card for which hp never
provided the driver explicitly. I did however at one point in time image
the entire hd (after re-installing
with the supplied cd). So yesterday I merely used that cd to locate the
ad1816.inf file on that cd
in the windows/options/cabs to install the sound card. I didn't want to
install from the recovery
cd as it re-install a bunch of stuff I don't need.

But I guess what I'd really like to know is whether it's possible for the
sound card to have become damaged
in the sense that it still plays music, great if it's in cd format, but dog
awful if in compressed format. I mean, is it
really the sound card. How and where is the mp3 converted into a format the
soundcard will recognize
and convert into analog output?

Doug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
This is what I get for getting a brand name computer. It's a hp 8140
pavilion,
and there are no newer drivers for it. But also, how could possibly
this be caused by sound
card settings if EVERYTHING was re-installed?

I assume that the re-install was done from the HP supplied CD, which
should put it back to a factory supplied state. Looks like it could be
faulty sound-hardware then.
I think that computer has the sound built into the mainboard, your best
option would be to disable it, usually done in the BIOS settings. And get
a PCI soundcard, as that machine has spare PCI slots. If you don't want to
open it up then an external USB based solution should work. Like a SB
Extigy.
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- I.R.S.: We've got what it takes to take what you've got! -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[dadiOH]

Post by Doug
But I guess what I'd really like to know is whether it's possible for the
sound card to have become damaged
in the sense that it still plays music, great if it's in cd format, but dog
awful if in compressed format. I mean, is it
really the sound card. How and where is the mp3 converted into a format the
soundcard will recognize
and convert into analog output?

As you said, it is the sound card's job to turn digital data into analog
sound. And vice versa.

When you play a CD, the digital data (wave) is sent to the sound card and
comes out as sound.

When you play an MP3, the MP3 data is decoded to wave by the player and sent
to the sound card. Only difference twixt it and an audio CD is the
necessity of decoding the MP3's digital "shorthand" data to digital wave.

Earlier, you said that one channel seemed much louder than another. Have
you looked at a file with a wave editor to see what each channel looks like?

--
dadiOH
____________________
...dadiOH's dandies...a help file about recording
from LP/cassette plus useful tips & tricks
about this and that...
http://www.gbronline.com/xico/

[Doug]

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug
But I guess what I'd really like to know is whether it's possible for the
sound card to have become damaged
in the sense that it still plays music, great if it's in cd format, but

dog

Post by Doug
awful if in compressed format. I mean, is it
really the sound card. How and where is the mp3 converted into a format

the

Post by Doug
soundcard will recognize
and convert into analog output?

As you said, it is the sound card's job to turn digital data into analog
sound. And vice versa.
When you play a CD, the digital data (wave) is sent to the sound card and
comes out as sound.
When you play an MP3, the MP3 data is decoded to wave by the player and sent
to the sound card. Only difference twixt it and an audio CD is the
necessity of decoding the MP3's digital "shorthand" data to digital wave.
Earlier, you said that one channel seemed much louder than another. Have
you looked at a file with a wave editor to see what each channel looks like?
--
dadiOH
____________________
...dadiOH's dandies...a help file about recording
from LP/cassette plus useful tips & tricks
about this and that...
http://www.gbronline.com/xico/

This sort of work I want to avoid at all costs, afterall, I'm know
music/sound/mp3 expert. And as I said before, the files play just fine
on two of my other machines. Also, aren't songs stored on cd in analog
format already, and not wav format? I mean, when you rip a cd to make a
backup, doesn't it actually have to convert from the format on the cd to
the wab format?

[dadiOH]

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
As you said, it is the sound card's job to turn digital data into analog
sound. And vice versa.
When you play a CD, the digital data (wave) is sent to the sound card and
comes out as sound.
When you play an MP3, the MP3 data is decoded to wave by the player and sent
to the sound card. Only difference twixt it and an audio CD is the
necessity of decoding the MP3's digital "shorthand" data to digital wave.
Earlier, you said that one channel seemed much louder than another.

Have

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
you looked at a file with a wave editor to see what each channel looks like?

This sort of work I want to avoid at all costs, afterall, I'm know
music/sound/mp3 expert. And as I said before, the files play just fine
on two of my other machines.

It really isn't much work or difficult to interpret. A wave editor will
show you both channels and it is easy to see if the amplitude on one is
higher than the other. I mentioned it because vocals are often on one
channel with the rest on the other. Which seems to sort of tie in with your
problem of one being louder.
___________________

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
Also, aren't songs stored on cd in analog

format already, and not wav format? I mean, when you rip a cd to make a
backup, doesn't it actually have to convert from the format on the cd to
the wab format?

What's on a CD (or a tape or a hard drive) is digital...a numeric
representation of the analog sound. When you rip a CD the data thereon for
each track is copied and the resultant file is given a header so that it is
recognized as a wave file.

dadiOH

[SP250]

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
As you said, it is the sound card's job to turn digital data into

analog

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
sound. And vice versa.
When you play a CD, the digital data (wave) is sent to the sound

card

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
and

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
comes out as sound.
When you play an MP3, the MP3 data is decoded to wave by the player

and

Post by dadiOH
sent

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
to the sound card. Only difference twixt it and an audio CD is the
necessity of decoding the MP3's digital "shorthand" data to digital

wave.

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
Earlier, you said that one channel seemed much louder than another.

Have

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
you looked at a file with a wave editor to see what each channel

looks

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
like?

Post by Doug
This sort of work I want to avoid at all costs, afterall, I'm know
music/sound/mp3 expert. And as I said before, the files play just fine
on two of my other machines.

It really isn't much work or difficult to interpret. A wave editor will
show you both channels and it is easy to see if the amplitude on one is
higher than the other. I mentioned it because vocals are often on one
channel with the rest on the other. Which seems to sort of tie in with

your

Post by dadiOH
problem of one being louder.
___________________

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
Also, aren't songs stored on cd in analog

format already, and not wav format? I mean, when you rip a cd to make a
backup, doesn't it actually have to convert from the format on the cd to
the wab format?

What's on a CD (or a tape or a hard drive) is digital...a numeric
representation of the analog sound. When you rip a CD the data thereon

for

Post by dadiOH
each track is copied and the resultant file is given a header so that it

is

Post by dadiOH
recognized as a wave file.
dadiOH

"What's on a CD (or a tape or a hard drive) is digital...a numeric
representation of the analog sound".
And as such its in analog format .... of course encoded "digitally".

Heck,

Post by Doug
all that computer can understand is
1 and 0, so the sounds are basically sort of fourier analysis stored on

the

Post by Doug
cd.
Doug

Repost
(sorry didn't post to all groups)

OK I had a similar problem that took ages to figure out, Music appeared to
play ok but vocals were either nonexistent or muffled, Movies played the
sound track, but vocals again were muffled but occasionally came through
load
and clear, very puzzling! And the solution so simple: the output from a
sound card feeds L+R with a common earth return. The earth return on my
system was defect and so vocals which are usually centre biased (stereo
speaking) were cancelling out and what I was hearing through the speakers
was actually the difference between the L+R channels (i.e L-R.)

Try this experiment: play an audio cd (try something with widely separated
L+R channels like Mamas and the Papas California Dreaming ) and listen to it
through the headphone socket on the front of the cd player. Now compare this
to the output of the sound card. If you have good stereo separation then
you'll have to look else-where. If the sound card output is basically L-R
then check the speaker/headphone plug/wiring

P.S Audio output from a cd is analogue, and is fed to the soundcards audio
amplifier via a small 3 or 4 wire cable not the wide flat cable used to
transfer data. Yes there are digital outputs available on cd players and yes
when you rip an audio cd the raw data is transferred via the data cable.
This scenario is based on the most common connection used between cd players
and soundcards.

Hope this helps

G.

[Doug]

Firstly, who would have thought that music tapes and cd's had signals burned
into them
that were proportional to the sound....well, I even had myself convinced
otherwise.

with regards to your solution, you're saying that if the music cd sounds
EXACTLY the same when
listened to via the front of the cd-rom player headphone jack and through
the soundcard, then
my soundcards L+R signal is grounded. If it isn't the same then I very
likely have the same problem you had?

If the sound is the same through both the jack and soundcard, and despite
the fact that signals on a music cd
(as we now know) are stored in analog format, it still points to the
soundcard as the culprit with regards to my
inability to play any compressed (digitized) sounds. I guess what I'm
trying to confirm is the following:

1)Sound read directly from a music cd is passed to the sound card and from
there to the speakers always in
analog format (never converted to a digital representation) through those
extra wires going from the
cd player to the soundcard. Thus the soundcard merely acts as a gateway not
converting ANYTHING to
a different format.

2)Sound read from anywhere (cd or hd) that is in digitized format (wav, mp3,
mpg...) is passed to the HD and there
converted by a codec/library into a universal "digital" format which the
soundcard will understand. The soundcard
then takes this digital sound format and converts it to an analog format and
outputs this to the speakers.

So, whereas in the first case the soundcard doesn't do any altering to the
signal and merely passes it further down to the
speakers, in the second instance (with compressed media) it still has to do
some alterations using its circuitry. So if
playing cd's poses no issue but playing compressed format data does, all
signs still point back to the sound card (and please,
lets not bring up the scenarios concerning soundcards with digital outputs).
Is this what everyone else is concluding
from this discussion?

Thanx
Doug

PS don't you just hate the proximity of the reply to sender and reply to
group is OE...

Post by SP250

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
As you said, it is the sound card's job to turn digital data into

analog

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
sound. And vice versa.
When you play a CD, the digital data (wave) is sent to the sound

card

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
and

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
comes out as sound.
When you play an MP3, the MP3 data is decoded to wave by the player

and

Post by dadiOH
sent

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
to the sound card. Only difference twixt it and an audio CD is the
necessity of decoding the MP3's digital "shorthand" data to digital

wave.

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
Earlier, you said that one channel seemed much louder than another.

Have

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
you looked at a file with a wave editor to see what each channel

looks

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
like?

Post by Doug
This sort of work I want to avoid at all costs, afterall, I'm know
music/sound/mp3 expert. And as I said before, the files play just

fine

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug
on two of my other machines.

It really isn't much work or difficult to interpret. A wave editor will
show you both channels and it is easy to see if the amplitude on one is
higher than the other. I mentioned it because vocals are often on one
channel with the rest on the other. Which seems to sort of tie in with

your

Post by dadiOH
problem of one being louder.
___________________

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH
Also, aren't songs stored on cd in analog

format already, and not wav format? I mean, when you rip a cd to

make

Post by SP250
a

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug
backup, doesn't it actually have to convert from the format on the

cd

Post by SP250
to

Post by Doug

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug
the wab format?

What's on a CD (or a tape or a hard drive) is digital...a numeric
representation of the analog sound. When you rip a CD the data thereon

for

Post by dadiOH
each track is copied and the resultant file is given a header so that it

is

Post by dadiOH
recognized as a wave file.
dadiOH

"What's on a CD (or a tape or a hard drive) is digital...a numeric
representation of the analog sound".
And as such its in analog format .... of course encoded "digitally".

Heck,

Post by Doug
all that computer can understand is
1 and 0, so the sounds are basically sort of fourier analysis stored on

the

Post by Doug
cd.
Doug

Repost
(sorry didn't post to all groups)
OK I had a similar problem that took ages to figure out, Music appeared to
play ok but vocals were either nonexistent or muffled, Movies played the
sound track, but vocals again were muffled but occasionally came through
load
and clear, very puzzling! And the solution so simple: the output from a
sound card feeds L+R with a common earth return. The earth return on my
system was defect and so vocals which are usually centre biased (stereo
speaking) were cancelling out and what I was hearing through the speakers
was actually the difference between the L+R channels (i.e L-R.)
Try this experiment: play an audio cd (try something with widely separated
L+R channels like Mamas and the Papas California Dreaming ) and listen to it
through the headphone socket on the front of the cd player. Now compare this
to the output of the sound card. If you have good stereo separation then
you'll have to look else-where. If the sound card output is basically L-R
then check the speaker/headphone plug/wiring
P.S Audio output from a cd is analogue, and is fed to the soundcards audio
amplifier via a small 3 or 4 wire cable not the wide flat cable used to
transfer data. Yes there are digital outputs available on cd players and yes
when you rip an audio cd the raw data is transferred via the data cable.
This scenario is based on the most common connection used between cd players
and soundcards.
Hope this helps
G.

[dadiOH]

Post by Doug
"What's on a CD (or a tape or a hard drive) is digital...a numeric
representation of the analog sound".
And as such its in analog format .... of course encoded "digitally".

Heck,

Post by Doug
all that computer can understand is
1 and 0, so the sounds are basically sort of fourier analysis stored on

the

Post by Doug
cd.

I give up, someone else take it...

dadiOH

[paul s]

Post by Doug
Actually, the re-install was done using win95 and win98 cd's. I found all
the drivers for
all the hp hardware sometime ago on the net and used those. Except for one
hardware piece
I was never able to find, the sound card. It's an analog devices 1815/16
and if I recall correctly
(and I haven't opened up the case in a long time), I think it's a PCI sound
card for which hp never
provided the driver explicitly. I did however at one point in time image
the entire hd (after re-installing
with the supplied cd). So yesterday I merely used that cd to locate the
ad1816.inf file on that cd
in the windows/options/cabs to install the sound card. I didn't want to
install from the recovery
cd as it re-install a bunch of stuff I don't need.
But I guess what I'd really like to know is whether it's possible for the
sound card to have become damaged
in the sense that it still plays music, great if it's in cd format, but dog
awful if in compressed format. I mean, is it
really the sound card. How and where is the mp3 converted into a format the
soundcard will recognize
and convert into analog output?

The reason why CDs play OK, is because there is an *analogue* signal cable
going directly from the CD-ROM to the sound-card. Bypassing any digital
hardware, e.g. mainboard, PCI-bus, sound-card's digital portion. Whereas
MP3s etc, are been processed by the CPU, via the PCI-bus, and converted
from digital to analogue by the sound-card itself.

Yup it's perfectly possible for sound-cards to go duff, just like any
other hardware. You've virtually elimenated any software problems with the
re-install, and the fact that different media players give the same
results.

[Doug]

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
Actually, the re-install was done using win95 and win98 cd's. I found all
the drivers for
all the hp hardware sometime ago on the net and used those. Except for one
hardware piece
I was never able to find, the sound card. It's an analog devices 1815/16
and if I recall correctly
(and I haven't opened up the case in a long time), I think it's a PCI sound
card for which hp never
provided the driver explicitly. I did however at one point in time image
the entire hd (after re-installing
with the supplied cd). So yesterday I merely used that cd to locate the
ad1816.inf file on that cd
in the windows/options/cabs to install the sound card. I didn't want to
install from the recovery
cd as it re-install a bunch of stuff I don't need.
But I guess what I'd really like to know is whether it's possible for the
sound card to have become damaged
in the sense that it still plays music, great if it's in cd format, but dog
awful if in compressed format. I mean, is it
really the sound card. How and where is the mp3 converted into a format the
soundcard will recognize
and convert into analog output?

The reason why CDs play OK, is because there is an *analogue* signal cable
going directly from the CD-ROM to the sound-card. Bypassing any digital
hardware, e.g. mainboard, PCI-bus, sound-card's digital portion. Whereas
MP3s etc, are been processed by the CPU, via the PCI-bus, and converted
from digital to analogue by the sound-card itself.
Yup it's perfectly possible for sound-cards to go duff, just like any
other hardware. You've virtually elimenated any software problems with the
re-install, and the fact that different media players give the same
results.

It makes so much sense that the only thing I can say is....how could I
forget about that cable. And with regards to my last question, I guess
that music stored on a regular cd is already in analog format?

Doug

[paul s]

Post by Doug
It makes so much sense that the only thing I can say is....how could I
forget about that cable. And with regards to my last question, I guess
that music stored on a regular cd is already in analog format?

The music is stored on a CD digitally but uncompressed, but is
converted to analogue within the drive, rather than via the sound-card.

[Doug]

So are the signals from both compressed sound files and from cd's sent
to the sound-card in analog format? That then wouldn't explain why
my sound doesn't work right (cd's work fine, compressed sound format
doesn't)?
Also, with regards to dadiOH's comment further down below,
you can actually play cd's directly from the cd-rom, so I wouldn't be
surprised if cd's were stored in analog format....heck, if they would be
digital, you'd
think that regular cd-players would have been digital for ages?

Doug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
It makes so much sense that the only thing I can say is....how could I
forget about that cable. And with regards to my last question, I guess
that music stored on a regular cd is already in analog format?

The music is stored on a CD digitally but uncompressed, but is
converted to analogue within the drive, rather than via the sound-card.
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- The moving cursor writes, and having written, blinks on. -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[dadiOH]

Post by Doug
So are the signals from both compressed sound files and from cd's sent
to the sound-card in analog format?

Think of an MP3 as sort of a shorthand code for the wave file from which it
was made. Both it and the wave are digital...*everything* on a computer is
digital.

In order for you to hear that MP3, it has to be decoded back to wave. On a
computer, that would normally be done by a program in RAM, then sent to the
sound card for conversion to analog. On a portable, it would be done by a
program on a ROM chip.
______________________

Post by Doug
Also, with regards to dadiOH's comment further down below,
you can actually play cd's directly from the cd-rom, so I wouldn't be
surprised if cd's were stored in analog format....heck, if they would be
digital, you'd
think that regular cd-players would have been digital for ages?

Yes, one would think that, wouldn't one? In fact, they *have* been digital
for ages...from day one.

Try to grasp this rather basic concept, Doug: data - including audio data -
on CDs is digital. Same for tape. Any tape. Same for *any* magnetic
medium including floppies, hard drives. Same for RAM. All digital.

dadiOH

[Bill]

Post by dadiOH

Post by Doug
So are the signals from both compressed sound files and from cd's sent
to the sound-card in analog format?

Think of an MP3 as sort of a shorthand code for the wave file from which it
was made. Both it and the wave are digital...*everything* on a computer is
digital.
In order for you to hear that MP3, it has to be decoded back to wave. On a
computer, that would normally be done by a program in RAM, then sent to the
sound card for conversion to analog. On a portable, it would be done by a
program on a ROM chip.
______________________

Post by Doug
Also, with regards to dadiOH's comment further down below,
you can actually play cd's directly from the cd-rom, so I wouldn't be
surprised if cd's were stored in analog format....heck, if they would be
digital, you'd
think that regular cd-players would have been digital for ages?

Yes, one would think that, wouldn't one? In fact, they *have* been digital
for ages...from day one.
Try to grasp this rather basic concept, Doug: data - including audio data -
on CDs is digital. Same for tape. Any tape. Same for *any* magnetic
medium including floppies, hard drives. Same for RAM. All digital.
dadiOH

Well, not exactly, dadiOH. The signals on cassette and open reel tapes (and 8
track) were analog in nature. Same thing was true for records.

[dadiOH]

Post by Bill
Well, not exactly, dadiOH. The signals on cassette and open reel tapes (and 8
track) were analog in nature. Same thing was true for records.

Well, I blew it again. :(

dadiOH

[Bill]

I think we're all speaking of the same thing but confusing each other cause
we think the other is speaking of something different...so hopefully to
Everything in a computer is stored digitally, by which I mean, using 1/0's.
Of course
what this digital data represents varies: On a regular cd, the digital data
represents
analog format information so that it can be interpreted by a cd player, on a
casette or 8track
the same thing happens, everything is still 1/0 except this time magnetic,
representing analog information.

No it's not. The magnetism on the tape is analog in nature - continously
varying in strength (amplitude) - and NOT in discrete ones and zeros. The
same thing is true for the record grooves. Analog - NOT digital.

Waves on the other hand are again digital (1/0)

"Wav" stands for waveform, typically a complex mix of sinewaves, which are
analog. They are *converted to PCM (digital) format, and THEN stored on the
CDs (in the pits) as a digitized representation of the original analog music
waveforms.

[Bill]

Just to be sure this is perfectly clear (or perhaps further compound the
issue):

It *is* certainly possible to record data on a magnetic tape in a digitized
format if one wishes to (for pure data applications - that would be a natural).
Where you only recognize the presence or absence of the magnetism (or reversed
magnetic domain polarities). But this is NOT what happens in audio cassette
and open reel tapes, or in records.

Post by Bill

the same thing happens, everything is still 1/0 except this time magnetic,
representing analog information.

No it's not. The magnetism on the tape is analog in nature - continously
varying in strength (amplitude) - and NOT in discrete ones and zeros.

Yep, that's what I found out after your last post. For which I thank
you...I learned something.
dadiOH

[Bill]

Post by Bill
Just to be sure this is perfectly clear (or perhaps further compound the
It *is* certainly possible to record data on a magnetic tape in a digitized
format if one wishes to (for pure data applications - that would be a natural).
Where you only recognize the presence or absence of the magnetism (or reversed
magnetic domain polarities). But this is NOT what happens in audio cassette
and open reel tapes, or in records.

Got it...
Analog tape = magnetism proportional to the signal, digital = merely yay or
nay.

Pretty close. To be more precise:
Analog tape *recording* (not the tape itself) = the magnetism is proportional
to the signal, in digital tape *recording* = it's merely yay or nay. (Good
way to put it). :-)

With analog, there are all shades of gray - it's continous, unlike digital.

[dadiOH]

Post by Doug

Post by paul s
The reason why CDs play OK, is because there is an *analogue* signal cable
going directly from the CD-ROM to the sound-card. Bypassing any digital
hardware, e.g. mainboard, PCI-bus, sound-card's digital portion. Whereas
MP3s etc, are been processed by the CPU, via the PCI-bus, and converted
from digital to analogue by the sound-card itself.
Yup it's perfectly possible for sound-cards to go duff, just like any
other hardware. You've virtually elimenated any software problems with the
re-install, and the fact that different media players give the same
results.

It makes so much sense that the only thing I can say is....how could I
forget about that cable. And with regards to my last question, I guess
that music stored on a regular cd is already in analog format?

If a CD were an analog medium, you'd need no sound card to play it. All
that would be necessary would be to amplify the sound vibrations. That is
not the case. The cable pipes data directly to the sound card - bypassing
RAM, CPU, etc. - but it is *digital* data and must be converted to analog by
the sound card.

These links may be of interest to you...
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/sound-card.htm
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/analog-digital.htm
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/cd.htm

dadiOH

[dadiOH]

Post by dadiOH
If a CD were an analog medium, you'd need no sound card to play it. All
that would be necessary would be to amplify the sound vibrations. That is
not the case. The cable pipes data directly to the sound card - bypassing
RAM, CPU, etc. - but it is *digital* data and must be converted to analog by
the sound card.

Paul S may well be correct: the digital in the CD is converted via the DAC
in a normal stereo type CD player, may well be in a computer as well. Main
point is that a CD is digital data and has to be changed to analog by
*something* be it DAC integrated within the CD drive or on the sound card.

dadiOH

[Doug]

Pardon about posting to the wrong threads....mozilla's idea

DOug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
Actually, the re-install was done using win95 and win98 cd's. I found all
the drivers for
all the hp hardware sometime ago on the net and used those. Except for one
hardware piece
I was never able to find, the sound card. It's an analog devices 1815/16
and if I recall correctly
(and I haven't opened up the case in a long time), I think it's a PCI sound
card for which hp never
provided the driver explicitly. I did however at one point in time image
the entire hd (after re-installing
with the supplied cd). So yesterday I merely used that cd to locate the
ad1816.inf file on that cd
in the windows/options/cabs to install the sound card. I didn't want to
install from the recovery
cd as it re-install a bunch of stuff I don't need.
But I guess what I'd really like to know is whether it's possible for the
sound card to have become damaged
in the sense that it still plays music, great if it's in cd format, but dog
awful if in compressed format. I mean, is it
really the sound card. How and where is the mp3 converted into a format the
soundcard will recognize
and convert into analog output?

The reason why CDs play OK, is because there is an *analogue* signal cable
going directly from the CD-ROM to the sound-card. Bypassing any digital
hardware, e.g. mainboard, PCI-bus, sound-card's digital portion. Whereas
MP3s etc, are been processed by the CPU, via the PCI-bus, and converted
from digital to analogue by the sound-card itself.
Yup it's perfectly possible for sound-cards to go duff, just like any
other hardware. You've virtually elimenated any software problems with the
re-install, and the fact that different media players give the same
results.

[paul s]

Post by Doug
Pardon about posting to the wrong threads....mozilla's idea
DOug

Was it Mozilla's fault? Your initial post was done from Outlook Express.

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.2.1)
Gecko/20030225

10 out of 10 for your choice of OS to use with Mozilla. I did use
Mozilla for a while on newsgroups but then switched to Pan.

BTW how do your MP3s sound when played on that OS?

[Doug]

I switch between the two os's, so there's posting from both.
Also, I just tried playing a wav file, and that didn't work either,
so I guess I'm going to have to invest in a new sound card. What's funny
though
is that I experienced this before and it went away for a while....

Doug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
Pardon about posting to the wrong threads....mozilla's idea
DOug

Was it Mozilla's fault? Your initial post was done from Outlook Express.
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.2.1)
Gecko/20030225
10 out of 10 for your choice of OS to use with Mozilla. I did use
Mozilla for a while on newsgroups but then switched to Pan.
BTW how do your MP3s sound when played on that OS?
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[paul s]

Post by Doug
I switch between the two os's, so there's posting from both.
Also, I just tried playing a wav file, and that didn't work either,
so I guess I'm going to have to invest in a new sound card. What's funny
though
is that I experienced this before and it went away for a while....

Intermittant fault I guess.

I duel boot Linux and XP. All my main stuff is done with Linux including
KazaaLite and WinMX under WINE, and XP is used to run MS Flight Sim and
MS Pinball Arcade.

BTW what flavour of Linux you using? I'm using Mandrake 9.1 here.

[Doug]

Well, I'm still fairly new to Linux, so as most, I've started of with
RedHat.
I got 9.0 installed, and I mainly use it for programming in Java. Although,
I'd
love to get familiar enough with it to completely switch from xp to rh9.
(with
the possibly difficulties existing with installing samba, this will take a
while I'm guessing)

Just a quick question about libraries in linux though. When installing
these
I usually compile them while logged in in my user account and then simply
move the *.so
files into the /usr/lib/ directory with root priviliges...is that all there
is to it if
you lack certain libraries? (it's late and I'm too lazy to read about it
now...although
I'll probably will have to give the library know-how a read sooner or later)

Doug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
I switch between the two os's, so there's posting from both.
Also, I just tried playing a wav file, and that didn't work either,
so I guess I'm going to have to invest in a new sound card. What's funny
though
is that I experienced this before and it went away for a while....

Intermittant fault I guess.
I duel boot Linux and XP. All my main stuff is done with Linux including
KazaaLite and WinMX under WINE, and XP is used to run MS Flight Sim and
MS Pinball Arcade.
BTW what flavour of Linux you using? I'm using Mandrake 9.1 here.
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- The Theory of Rapitivity: E=MC Hammer -
- -- Glenn Marcus (via TopFive.com) -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[paul s]

Post by Doug
Well, I'm still fairly new to Linux, so as most, I've started of with
RedHat.
I got 9.0 installed, and I mainly use it for programming in Java. Although,
I'd
love to get familiar enough with it to completely switch from xp to rh9.
(with
the possibly difficulties existing with installing samba, this will take a
while I'm guessing)

I never used samba, so I cant tell you anything about it.

Post by Doug
Just a quick question about libraries in linux though. When installing
these
I usually compile them while logged in in my user account and then simply
move the *.so
files into the /usr/lib/ directory with root priviliges...is that all there
is to it if
you lack certain libraries? (it's late and I'm too lazy to read about it
now...although
I'll probably will have to give the library know-how a read sooner or later)

I always installed libraries thru the package manager, so the
system knows whats installed and not, rather than just moving .so files
into /usr/lib/. Any libraries I've needed have already been in binary
form, and have been easily available from the various Mandrake contrib FTP
sites.

When I come across an app that I got to compile, I install it with
'checkinstall' rather than just 'make install', the tells the package
manager that another application has been installed, and makes later
removal much easier.

http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/

[Doug]

So there is a utility in linux which keeps track of all the installed
libraries?
Heck, I asked this question once on one of the linux newsgroups, and what
I got were suggestions that I look for installed libraries via ls lib/lib*
command.

So here's a question, is the package manager similar to the Add/Remove
Programs
in windows, where it lists all the installed packages and their locations?

Perhaps this would explain why after installing java, my Mozilla still can't
display
java embedded in web pages?

Doug

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
Well, I'm still fairly new to Linux, so as most, I've started of with
RedHat.
I got 9.0 installed, and I mainly use it for programming in Java.

Although,

Post by paul s

Post by Doug
I'd
love to get familiar enough with it to completely switch from xp to rh9.
(with
the possibly difficulties existing with installing samba, this will take a
while I'm guessing)

I never used samba, so I cant tell you anything about it.

Post by Doug
Just a quick question about libraries in linux though. When installing
these
I usually compile them while logged in in my user account and then simply
move the *.so
files into the /usr/lib/ directory with root priviliges...is that all there
is to it if
you lack certain libraries? (it's late and I'm too lazy to read about it
now...although
I'll probably will have to give the library know-how a read sooner or later)

I always installed libraries thru the package manager, so the
system knows whats installed and not, rather than just moving .so files
into /usr/lib/. Any libraries I've needed have already been in binary
form, and have been easily available from the various Mandrake contrib FTP
sites.
When I come across an app that I got to compile, I install it with
'checkinstall' rather than just 'make install', the tells the package
manager that another application has been installed, and makes later
removal much easier.
http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Nimda: An original Microsoft web crawler. -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[paul s]

Post by Doug
So there is a utility in linux which keeps track of all the installed
libraries?
Heck, I asked this question once on one of the linux newsgroups, and what
I got were suggestions that I look for installed libraries via ls lib/lib*

Yup but the utility is distro specific. On Mandrake it's rpmDrake and
urpmi, RedHat it's urpmi, Debian it's apt-get, Gentoo it's portage,
Lindows it's Click'n'run, Slackware you sort it yourself.

Post by Doug
So here's a question, is the package manager similar to the Add/Remove
Programs
in windows, where it lists all the installed packages and their locations?

If your using a rpm [1] based distro, RedHat, Mandrake or SuSE, there is
a utility to do exactly that. On Mandrake it's rpmDrake which is GUI
based similar to Windows 'Add/Remove programs, I know RedHat, and SuSE
have something similar.

Post by Doug
Perhaps this would explain why after installing java, my Mozilla still
can't display
java embedded in web pages?

Get Mozplugger [2], it automatically configures Mozilla to use whatever
plugins are available, Java, Shockwave, RealPlayer, XMMS, Mplayer,
Timidity++. I don't believe in hardwork. :-) Mozplugger also works with
Galeon, Konqueror and Opera.


[1] RPM - RedHat Package Management

[2] http://freshmeat.net/releases/124582/

As you can see my Mozilla is configured to deal with all types of online
content:

----------------------------------
MozPlugger 1.1.1

File name: mozplugger.so
MozPlugger version 1.1.1, written by Fredrik Hübinette
<***@hubbe.net> and Louis Bavoil <***@enseirb.fr>. For
documentation on how to configure mozplugger, check the man page.
(type man mozplugger)

MIME Type Description Suffixes Enabled video/mpeg MPEG animation mpeg,
mpg, mpe Yes video/x-mpeg MPEG animation mpeg, mpg, mpe Yes
video/x-mpeg2 MPEG2 animation mpv2, mp2ve Yes video/msvideo AVI
animation avi Yes video/x-msvideo AVI animation avi Yes video/fli FLI
animation fli, flc Yes video/x-fli FLI animation fli, flc Yes
video/x-ms-asf-plugin Windows Media asf,asx,wma,wax,wmv,wvx Yes
application/x-mplayer2 Windows Media wmv,asf,mov Yes video/quicktime
Quicktime animation mov,qt Yes video/x-quicktime Quicktime animation
mov,qt Yes video/dl DL animation dl Yes video/x-dl DL animation dl
Yes
video/sgi-movie SGI animation movie,movi,mv Yes video/x-sgi-movie SGI
animation movie,movi,mv Yes video/anim IFF animation
iff,anim5,anim3,anim7 Yes video/x-anim IFF animation
iff,anim5,anim3,anim7 Yes audio/mid MIDI audio file midi,mid Yes
audio/x-mid MIDI audio file midi,mid Yes audio/midi MIDI audio file
midi,mid Yes audio/x-midi MIDI audio file midi,mid Yes audio/mod
Soundracker audio Module mod Yes audio/x-mod Soundracker audio Module
mod Yes audio/mp3 MPEG audio mp3 Yes audio/x-mp3 MPEG audio mp3 Yes
audio/mpeg2 MPEG audio mp2 Yes
audio/x-mpeg2 MPEG audio mp2 Yes
audio/mpeg3 MPEG audio mp3 Yes
audio/x-mpeg3 MPEG audio mp3 Yes
audio/mpeg MPEG audio mpa,abs,mpega Yes audio/x-mpeg MPEG audio
mpa,abs,mpega Yes audio/x-ogg OGG audio ogg Yes application/x-ogg OGG
audio ogg Yes audio/x-sidtune Commodore 64 Audio
sid,psid Yes audio/sidtune Commodore 64 Audio sid,psid Yes audio/psid
Commodore 64 Audio psid,sid Yes audio/x-psid Commodore 64 Audio
psid,sid Yes audio/basic Basic audio file au,snd Yes audio/x-basic
Basic audio file au,snd Yes audio/wav Microsoft wave file wav Yes
audio/x-wav Microsoft wave file wav Yes image/sun-raster SUN raster
image rs Yes image/x-sun-raster SUN raster image rs Yes image/x-rgb
RGB Image rgb Yes
image/x-portable-pixmap PPM Image ppm Yes image/x-portable-graymap PGM
Image pgm Yes image/x-portable-bitmap PBM Image pbm Yes
image/x-portable-anymap PBM Image pnm Yes image/tiff TIFF image
tiff,tif Yes image/x-tiff TIFF image tiff,tif Yes audio/mpeg-url MPEG
music resource locator m3u Yes audio/x-mpeg-url MPEG music resource
locator m3u Yes audio/mpegurl MPEG music resource locator m3u Yes
audio/x-mpegurl MPEG music resource locator m3u Yes
audio/x-pn-realaudio Realaudio-plugin resource locator ra,rm,ram Yes
audio/x-realaudio RealAudio file ra,rm,ram Yes
application/vnd.rn-realmedia RealMedia file rm Yes application/smil
RealPlayer smi Yes audio/vnd.rn-realaudio RealAudio file ra,ram Yes
audio/vnd.rn-realvideo RealVideo file rv Yes text/pdf PDF file pdf
Yes
text/x-pdf PDF file pdf Yes
application/x-dvi DVI file dvi Yes application/x-postscript PostScript
file ps Yes application/postscript PostScript file ps Yes
application/rtf Rich Text Format rtf Yes application/x-msword Microsoft
Word Document doc, dot Yes application/msword Microsoft Word Document
doc, dot Yes application/vnd.ms-excel Microsoft Excel Document
xls, xlb Yes application/vnd.stardivision.calc StarCalc Document
sdc,sxc,sds,stc Yes application/vnd.stardivision.draw StarDraw Document
sda,sxd,std Yes application/vnd.stardivision.impress StarImpress
Document sdd,sxi,sti Yes application/vnd.stardivision.math StarMath
Document sdf Yes application/vnd.stardivision.writer StarWriter
Document sdw,sgl,sxw,sxg,stw Yes

[paul s]

Post by paul s
Get Mozplugger [2], it automatically configures Mozilla to use whatever
plugins are available, Java, Shockwave, RealPlayer, XMMS, Mplayer,
Timidity++. I don't believe in hardwork. :-) Mozplugger also works with
Galeon, Konqueror and Opera.

These are all RPMs, Mandrake or SuSE.
http://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/contrib/texstar/

They all made my life much easier. :-))

[Ramón Sola]

[Follow-up to all except microsoft.public.ES.windows98.]
I notice all of you didn't trim the crossposting, so I'm upset. There was a Spanish-language newsgroup from the beginning and nobody noticed the tremendous crossposting.
--
Un saludo...

Ramón Sola @ Málaga.España
***@agua.terra.es
Pon a hervir mi correo a 100ºC antes de escribirme. ;-)))
Esto ya parece el calvario de la Aurora. (rosario)


¡Me pareció ver un lindo mensajito! Es de paul s

Post by Doug
Heck, I asked this question once on one of the linux newsgroups, and what
I got were suggestions that I look for installed libraries via ls lib/lib*
command.

I notice you top-post which I got no problem with, I can
work either way.
Here is a tip: Never *top-post* in a Linux newsgroup, it's heavily
frowned upon in most Linux newsgroups.
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Windows: Because everyone needs a good laugh. -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Doug]

that would be me...you see, when I posted to newsgroups with regards to the
mp3 problem before,
people didn't really respond, so I decided to include all the relevant
newgroups this time around....
and didn't notice that I posted to a spanish one....but then again, you guys
seem to be speaking perfect
english, so how about a penny for your thoughts?

Doug


"Ram�n Sola" <***@spammers.no> wrote in message news:***@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
[Follow-up to all except microsoft.public.ES.windows98.]
I notice all of you didn't trim the crossposting, so I'm upset. There was a
Spanish-language newsgroup from the beginning and nobody noticed the
tremendous crossposting.
--
Un saludo...

Ramón Sola @ Málaga.España
***@agua.terra.es
Pon a hervir mi correo a 100ºC antes de escribirme. ;-)))
Esto ya parece el calvario de la Aurora. (rosario)


¡Me pareció ver un lindo mensajito! Es de paul s

Post by Doug
Heck, I asked this question once on one of the linux newsgroups, and what
I got were suggestions that I look for installed libraries via ls lib/lib*
command.

I notice you top-post which I got no problem with, I can
work either way.
Here is a tip: Never *top-post* in a Linux newsgroup, it's heavily
frowned upon in most Linux newsgroups.
--
Paul S
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Windows: Because everyone needs a good laugh. -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Doug]

all of them. The only ones which still sound ok are the ones with no lyrics
for reasons described previously.
And it isn't the songs, because I can play them fine on both my other
machines.

Doug

Post by Doug
the song/audio
file, etc.. playes really strange, with a sort of echo in the background
with the lyrics drown out by the instrmentals (almost as if the "lyric
layer" was decreased in volume while the "song layer" was increased in
volume

How many songs are you talking about? One? One hundred? All?
dadiOH

[paul s]

[Follow-up to non-Spanish newsgroups in crossposting.]
Your crossposting is A HUGE BULLSH*T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quién dijo cualquier cosa sobre un newsgroup español, idiota.

[CM]

I think it is stuck in 3d mode.try to turn it off in volume controls.

Post by Doug
Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who take the
time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious one, and I have
no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could be causing it.

I'll

Post by Doug
The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including winamp 2,
2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a matter of fact I
get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive. What I mean by clearly is
that if I'm playing a song lets say, the music is loud and clear, but the
singers lyrics can hardly be heard. Basically, the song sounds as if it
were recorded in a church where the echo would drown out any words in the
song, and actually, this echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must
admit it's very hard to describe.
The System: Pentium 200 Mhz, yes its old, but all worked fine 1 month ago
(I've posted with regards to this problem before, but then when I thought it
wen't away, it's back now...fresh after an all complete system reinstall),
32 megs or RAM. Like I said, it played mp3's fine 1 month ago, and I have a
Pentium 133Mhz with 16 megs or RAM playes MP3s just fine!
Actions taken up to now: as I stated, this problem occured before, and then
went away again. It was suggested by a few that this problem could be
caused by add-ware shipped with kazaa. When the problem again came back (2
days ago), I finally decided to re-format the entire system (fdisk, format
...the whole nine yards), then installed win95 and win 98 (clean and from
scratch). After getting win98 installed on the system, I installed the
basic drivers for sound card, network adapter, video driver, and then tried
winamp. And to my complete surprise, the same thing happens, the song/audio
file, etc.. playes really strange, with a sort of echo in the background
with the lyrics drown out by the instrmentals (almost as if the "lyric
layer" was decreased in volume while the "song layer" was increased in
volume - if that's making any sense). Then I tried Windows Media Player
6.4, and the exact same thing occurs, can't play avi's, mp3... (didn't try
other compressed audio formats). It does play cd's, but that of course is
no surprise as playing cd format cd's isn't all that difficult for a cd-rom.
I should also mention that when I play these songs on any player, my
processor activity does not rise above 5%, thus eliminating the possibility
that the old pentium is having problems keeping up with the decompression.
Also, I was suspecting the sound card, but as already mentioned, I can play
cd's just fine...
Well, that's all I can think of which seems relevent for the time being...
.
Doug

[paul s]

Las letras es (Español) del inicio de este grupo quieren decir algo?
SALUDOS.
julian-valencia-españa

¿Qué español pone letras? Estoy fijando en alt.music.mp3.kazaa

[paul s]

Las letras es (Español) del inicio de este grupo quieren decir algo?
SALUDOS.
julian-valencia-españa

"El pozo I nunca contaba con la inquisición española."

"Well I never expected the Spanish Inquisition."

[paul s]

Las letras es (Español) del inicio de este grupo quieren decir algo?

Do you have any rats in Spain, or did Franco have them all shot? -- John
Cleese 'Fawlty Towers'

[Stephen T. Scully]

Post by Doug
Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who take the
time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious one, and I have
no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could be causing it. I'll
The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including winamp 2,
2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a matter of fact I
get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive. What I mean by clearly is
that if I'm playing a song lets say, the music is loud and clear, but the
singers lyrics can hardly be heard. Basically, the song sounds as if it
were recorded in a church where the echo would drown out any words in the
song, and actually, this echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must
admit it's very hard to describe.
The System: Pentium 200 Mhz, yes its old, but all worked fine 1 month ago
(I've posted with regards to this problem before, but then when I thought it
wen't away, it's back now...fresh after an all complete system reinstall),
32 megs or RAM. Like I said, it played mp3's fine 1 month ago, and I have a
Pentium 133Mhz with 16 megs or RAM playes MP3s just fine!
Actions taken up to now: as I stated, this problem occured before, and then
went away again. It was suggested by a few that this problem could be
caused by add-ware shipped with kazaa. When the problem again came back (2
days ago), I finally decided to re-format the entire system (fdisk, format
...the whole nine yards), then installed win95 and win 98 (clean and from
scratch). After getting win98 installed on the system, I installed the
basic drivers for sound card, network adapter, video driver, and then tried
winamp. And to my complete surprise, the same thing happens, the song/audio
file, etc.. playes really strange, with a sort of echo in the background
with the lyrics drown out by the instrmentals (almost as if the "lyric
layer" was decreased in volume while the "song layer" was increased in
volume - if that's making any sense). Then I tried Windows Media Player
6.4, and the exact same thing occurs, can't play avi's, mp3... (didn't try
other compressed audio formats). It does play cd's, but that of course is
no surprise as playing cd format cd's isn't all that difficult for a cd-rom.
I should also mention that when I play these songs on any player, my
processor activity does not rise above 5%, thus eliminating the possibility
that the old pentium is having problems keeping up with the decompression.
Also, I was suspecting the sound card, but as already mentioned, I can play
cd's just fine...
Well, that's all I can think of which seems relevent for the time being...
.
Doug

Even though you may have revamped everything while you were doing so the
DRIVER for your SOUND card may have gone through many incarnatiuon So ,
you need to know the king of sound card you have AND go to their Web
Site and download any upgrades. Lastly, I know what you had worked
before BUT sound files are huge only visual files (photos) are bigger.
512K is minimal RAM. THe king of CPU ypou have can affect sound (is it
part of your motherboard-inregrated-thus no sound cars" Lastly, you did
go to Conbtrol Panel and look at ALL your sound control choices-you can
check the wroing box and hear weird sounds forever, Goods Luck

[Osvaldo]

This group is of Spanish language, he/she chooses group according to
your language, a greeting.
--
Osvaldo Luis Vila
Burzaco - Buenos Aires
Argentina
To the South of the American Continent


This electronic message this only directed to the person or entity
mentioned in the address to which was correspondent. It can contain
confidential and legally protected information. This forbidden one the
revision, impression, copies or action in connection with this
information, for people or entities different to the addressee.
If you received this message by mistake we request him to forward it to
the originator and to destroy the printed copies or recorded in their
system.
If this way not the hiciere, the same ones will be used in its against
in the Final trial. LOVE.

Post by Stephen T. Scully

Post by Doug
Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who take the
time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious one, and I have
no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could be causing it. I'll
The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including winamp 2,
2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a matter of fact I
get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive. What I mean by clearly is
that if I'm playing a song lets say, the music is loud and clear, but the
singers lyrics can hardly be heard. Basically, the song sounds as if it
were recorded in a church where the echo would drown out any words in the
song, and actually, this echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must
admit it's very hard to describe.
The System: Pentium 200 Mhz, yes its old, but all worked fine 1 month ago
(I've posted with regards to this problem before, but then when I thought it
wen't away, it's back now...fresh after an all complete system reinstall),
32 megs or RAM. Like I said, it played mp3's fine 1 month ago, and I have a
Pentium 133Mhz with 16 megs or RAM playes MP3s just fine!
Actions taken up to now: as I stated, this problem occured before, and then
went away again. It was suggested by a few that this problem could be
caused by add-ware shipped with kazaa. When the problem again came back (2
days ago), I finally decided to re-format the entire system (fdisk, format
...the whole nine yards), then installed win95 and win 98 (clean and from
scratch). After getting win98 installed on the system, I installed the
basic drivers for sound card, network adapter, video driver, and then tried
winamp. And to my complete surprise, the same thing happens, the song/audio
file, etc.. playes really strange, with a sort of echo in the background
with the lyrics drown out by the instrmentals (almost as if the "lyric
layer" was decreased in volume while the "song layer" was increased in
volume - if that's making any sense). Then I tried Windows Media Player
6.4, and the exact same thing occurs, can't play avi's, mp3... (didn't try
other compressed audio formats). It does play cd's, but that of course is
no surprise as playing cd format cd's isn't all that difficult for a cd-rom.
I should also mention that when I play these songs on any player, my
processor activity does not rise above 5%, thus eliminating the possibility
that the old pentium is having problems keeping up with the

decompression.

Post by Stephen T. Scully

Post by Doug
Also, I was suspecting the sound card, but as already mentioned, I can play
cd's just fine...
Well, that's all I can think of which seems relevent for the time being...
.
Doug

Even though you may have revamped everything while you were doing so the
DRIVER for your SOUND card may have gone through many incarnatiuon So ,
you need to know the king of sound card you have AND go to their Web
Site and download any upgrades. Lastly, I know what you had worked
before BUT sound files are huge only visual files (photos) are bigger.
512K is minimal RAM. THe king of CPU ypou have can affect sound (is it
part of your motherboard-inregrated-thus no sound cars" Lastly, you did
go to Conbtrol Panel and look at ALL your sound control choices-you can
check the wroing box and hear weird sounds forever, Goods Luck

[Roy G. Biv]

Post by Doug
Hello to all, and really, a lot of thanks to all ahead of time who
take the time with resect to this problem. It is quite the serious
one, and I have no idea how to go about solving it, or even what could
be causing it. I'll try to be very descriptive...for more details
The Problem: I can't play MP3s clearly on ANY player, including
winamp 2, 2.09, 2,9, 3, Windows Media Player, or RealPlayer. As a
matter of fact I get bad quality on avi's as well, divx inclusive.
What I mean by clearly is that if I'm playing a song lets say, the
music is loud and clear, but the singers lyrics can hardly be heard.
Basically, the song sounds as if it were recorded in a church where
the echo would drown out any words in the song, and actually, this
echo is there. It sounds really weird, and I must admit it's very
hard to describe.
The System: Pentium 200 Mhz, yes its old, but all worked fine 1 month
ago (I've posted with regards to this problem before, but then when I
thought it wen't away, it's back now...fresh after an all complete
system reinstall), 32 megs or RAM. Like I said, it played mp3's fine
1 month ago, and I have a Pentium 133Mhz with 16 megs or RAM playes
MP3s just fine!
Actions taken up to now: as I stated, this problem occured before, and
then went away again. It was suggested by a few that this problem
could be caused by add-ware shipped with kazaa. When the problem
again came back (2 days ago), I finally decided to re-format the
entire system (fdisk, format ...the whole nine yards), then installed
win95 and win 98 (clean and from scratch). After getting win98
installed on the system, I installed the basic drivers for sound card,
network adapter, video driver, and then tried winamp. And to my
complete surprise, the same thing happens, the song/audio file, etc..
playes really strange, with a sort of echo in the background with the
lyrics drown out by the instrmentals (almost as if the "lyric layer"
was decreased in volume while the "song layer" was increased in volume
- if that's making any sense). Then I tried Windows Media Player 6.4,
and the exact same thing occurs, can't play avi's, mp3... (didn't try
other compressed audio formats). It does play cd's, but that of
course is no surprise as playing cd format cd's isn't all that
difficult for a cd-rom. I should also mention that when I play these
songs on any player, my processor activity does not rise above 5%,
thus eliminating the possibility that the old pentium is having
problems keeping up with the decompression. Also, I was suspecting the
sound card, but as already mentioned, I can play cd's just fine...
Well, that's all I can think of which seems relevent for the time
being... .
Doug

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