dMC mp3 files won't play in Media Player

[Charles]

I have recorded my own singing on a CD and have ripped and converted the tracks with dMC, but Media Player won't play them. My installed mp3 codec is Fraunhofer IIS 1.7. Does this mean that media Player can't deal with your mp3 codec? I want to embed my tracks in a web page, so I need wide application support. What do I do? (Media player doesn't register an error. The marker moves along its groove but there is no sound. Other mp3 files play normally.)

[Charles]

As an update - I posted a similar message in a Microsoft forum (ok, ok!) and it was suggested that VBR might be the problem, and that I should reencode, but I am almost certain that I did not opt for VBR in the first place. Also Media Player says that clicking on the properties of a sound file should bring up some details of how it was encoded, but that doesn't seem to work on my computer (Win 98).

[totalXSive]

Hmmm... strange. The files I rip with dMC play fine in Media Player (Windows XP Pro) and have done on 7.0 and 7.1 under Windows 98 when I still had it.

There is a known incompatibilty involving the use of ID3v2 tags and Media Player, but I wouldn't imagine that this is affecting the playing of the files.

Were you using the Lame encoder when using dMC, or did you use one of the others? Sometimes some encoders write invalid files which don't always play.

[Charles]

Neil, you don't make clear whether the LAME codec was installed on your computer or not. My point is that that particular codec (which, yes, I did use) is not installed on my computer and might not be on most other computers which I hope will play my tracks. The Media Player codec troubleshooter suggests that tracks compressed on third-party software may not work on Media Player unless the particular codec is installed. It mentions the Fraunhofer codec as compressing with a 16 to 1 ratio. The LAME codec seems to offer variable compression rates. I might try compressing at 16 to 1 and see if that works. More suggestions welcome.

[MODatic]

Definately make sure the files you are making are CBR if you want Media player to play them properly, media player cannot read the VBR headers that the encoders place at the start of the songs, thus, it's "current time" and "time remaining" is out, other problems with VBR can still occur.

As totalXSive has already said, Media Player has several problems with ID3 V2 and when combined with VBR, can easily choke on the file. (bear in mind that Media Player is the only app that has these problems:rolleyes: ) So as well as making sure to encode as a CBR file, also disable ID3 V2 tags. To do this, go into dBpowerAMP Music Converter>>Configuration>>DMC Configuration and make sure ID3 Tag Information is set to "Never Create V2".

You also do not need to have the codec installed if you want to play the files, this is only for wave files that use internal compression but have the same .wav file extension. In your case, you're making proper mp3 files with the .mp3 extension.

[Charles]

Thanks to MODatic for the suggestion. I have now configured the converter to 'never use V2', although it did not, in fact, solve the problem. However, when I increased the compression from 4 to 1 (this compression info is seen when you select the file in Explorer) to 8 to 1, the file at last played! This may be of interest to any others wanting the best quality sound possible.