Scratch n' Skip
December 13, 2009 2:48 PM

I have SRV mp3s that skip in exactly the same way as a CD I have.

I've had a Stevie Ray Vaughan CD for as long as I can remember. I think it's from a remastered boxed set from the early 90's. Also, as long as I can remember it's skipped in places (you know, CD type skipping), but kept playing, so I dealt with it.

Nowadays I've got downloaded mp3s of all of this SRV material I already had on CD. Here's the weird thing: the mp3s skip in the same way as my old compilation CD. Even weirder, I don't have mp3s of that specific compilation. I believe the skipping is on an In Step reissue that's marked as being from 1999.

What's the deal? What could be the deal?
posted by cmoj to Media & Arts (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
I fixed this problem on my Sweetheart's Vista machine: De-select 'enhanced' in the speaker/sounds (probably in Control Panel, but I'm running XP so I can't give you the exact steps) - worked like magic!
posted by HarrysDad at 3:12 PM on December 13, 2009


If that doesn't work, do you have a proprietary audio driver program that runs over top of windows's default sound manager? Does it have a bunch of stupid DSP effects like HEY NOW IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE INSIDE A SEWER PIPE! NOW IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE INSIDE A SEWER PIPE FULL OF FEATHERS?

If so, try downgrading your drivers to "plug n' play audio device" (or something similar). I had a similar problem with my soundcard and this fixed it.
posted by tehloki at 4:05 PM on December 13, 2009


It's not a software problem. I have a mac anyway. It does it on the computer and on the iphone.

And the mp3 doesn't mess up more or anything, it messes up in exactly the same ways. Like it was a recording of my old skipping CD.
posted by cmoj at 6:32 PM on December 13, 2009


Just a guess, but maybe the master for the recordings was flawed in some way.
posted by hamandcheese at 8:42 PM on December 13, 2009


It is extremely unlikely that the master they used to press the CD had some kind of flaw. The guy who ripped the CD had a CD that skipped. Your CD also skipped. They may have skipped in similar places, but that is just a coincidence. Try to find another rip or a CD in better condition to rip from yourself.
posted by sophist at 10:30 PM on December 13, 2009


Post a link to the mp3 so we have something to go on
posted by tehloki at 12:35 AM on December 14, 2009


Um... can I do that legally?
posted by cmoj at 1:12 PM on December 14, 2009


I don't think the RIAA is going to come-a-suin' for posting a one-off MP3 sample for this purpose. Remove it when you've gotten a satisfactory answer ;-)

How sure are you that the skipping is 100% identical, both in time/location and nature, between your MP3 and the original CD?

Is the absolutely zero chance that you mistakenly are listening to a rip you'd forgotten you'd done at some point in the past?

What was your download source for the files in question? If it were a legitimate source (iTunes, etc) it should be repeatable (we could sample/re-download the track to see what it is).

What specific song(s) are they? I could check them against another source (Zune Pass) to see if there are any issues there.

But yeah, my gut agrees with the above:You got them from a source that ripped a coincidentally defective album.
posted by sprocket87 at 8:05 AM on December 15, 2009


« Older Looking for a Diamond (not Justin)   |   Why are men's swimming shorts all long (and... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.