Play Time (Minutes & Seconds) Lost for Over 1,600 ASudio Files

[dick@dallas.net]

I am not certain exactly how this happened. However, after converting a whole slew of audio files, I find that the Play Time for each audio file has been greatly reduced (like from 3:25 to :02). At least, that's how it appears in the far right column of WMP 9's Now Playing display. Since there are so many of these (over 1,600) I sincerely hope there's a fairly simple solution to restoring the correct Play Time to each of those audio files.

I shall greatly appreciate your help on this.

[aneesheewah]

Did you try converting them one at a time?

[dick@dallas.net]

I'm afraid not.

[dick@dallas.net]

I have now tried converting a single audio file, however, the lenght for that one reads :01.

[dick@dallas.net]

On further research, I find that the dBpowerAMP converted audio files that report the wrong length (mm:ss) in WMP 9, all have 2 LENGTHS in their ID Tag. Those that report the correct Length, all have only 1 LENGTH in their ID Tags, and thoser show the correct Length.

The SECOND Length for those that have 2 LENGTHS in their ID Tags does not appear in the tag display in mm:ss format; It appears at the bottom of the ID tag display with 4 or 5-digit not s separated by a colon. And the digits displayed there do not appear to relate in any way to the correct (first) LENGTH which is near the top of thedisplay and appears in mm:ss format.

How can I straighten out all of these messed-up ID tags?

[aneesheewah]

Try using an older version of the WMA Codec

[Spoon]

What originally created the files, the length shouldn't have been in the ID Tag.

[dick@dallas.net]

Audio files created several ways

Many of the audio files that I have were recorded by MusicMatch Jukebox Plus, quite a few were downloaded, and a few were recently created using Cakewalk Pyro 2003.

The comment I made earlier about ID Tags with either 1 or 2 Lengths was wrong and misleading. I believe the ID Tags for all of my audio files have two Lengths. I have no idea what the second length is but the first Length (in mm:ss format) is the correct play length.

What I don't understand is why WMP 9 displays the correct length in a few cases and the wrong Length in the vast majority of cases--even though the ID Tags in those cases all have the correct Length.

I question whether it's a bug in WMP 9. I'm more inclined to suspect that something went wrong here which has caused this problem.

[dick@dallas.net]

How Can I Switch to Older Codec?

aneesheewah suggested I try an older Codec for WMP 9. How would I go about that? And would doing so create any conflict with dBpowerAMP or dMC File Selector?

[dick@dallas.net]

Clarification on File Types

Incidentally 99.9% of my audio files are in .mp3 (128 kbps) format. I do have a few in .WMA format, but they could be counted on one hand.

[dick@dallas.net]

More Info....

Today, I discovered a bit more about this odd problem. In one directory, which contains about 20 audio files, all but one show to be Encoded By: Lame 3.92. The other one shows to have been Encoded By: Xing (old).

Windows Media Player 9 shows the correct length for the one audio fie Encoded by Xing (old). However, it shows the wrong (MUCH SHORTER) Length for all of those Encoded by Lame 3.92.

Oddly enough, MusicMatch Jukebox Plus ver. 7.50.1026 shows the correct play length for ALL audio files in this directory.

[dick@dallas.net]

Definitely NOT a dBpowerAMP or dMC File Selector Problem

I have found that other WMP 9 users have exactly the same problem with .mp3 files that I described above, and none of them use dBpowerAMP or dMC File Selector.

So, this is clearly a genuine bug in the current release of Microsoft's Windows Media Player 9. Who knows when or if they'll fix it?

Thanks anyway for your help.

With kindest regards,

Dick Smith

[Spoon]

BTW you asked how to install an older version of WMA, without serious deleting (of files and registry items) it is not possible to roll back WMA to an older version.