Stereo to mono?

July 6, 2005 12:47 PM

Seeking a freeware MS Windows Media Player plug-in to play stereo mp3s as mono.

I very often listen to mp3s using only one ear-bud headphone, but I only get one channel, left or right. Is there a free plug-in that will play my stereo mp3s as mono? If I can't find a software solution, I'll just get hardware 1/8" plug adapter, just curious...

posted by LordSludge to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

This can easily be done using Winamp (Input->Nullsoft MPEG->Configure->Decoder->uncheck "Allow stereo output"). Why are you bothering with WMP?
posted by neckro23 at 1:41 PM on July 6, 2005

Response by poster: (To answer your question, I've always *hated* the UI for WinAmp, even with different skins -- just seems so non-standard and non-intuitive to me. Odd as it sounds, Windows Explorer + WMP "Now Playing" works great for me, esp at work.)
posted by LordSludge at 2:00 PM on July 6, 2005

Not a WMP answer as it is not my thing, but you may be able to convert to mono at the Control Panel / sound card level.

When I go to
control panel | sounds... | volume tab | speakers | advanced
I get a speakers pulldown that lets me pick from a variety of output methods, including mono and stereo speakers, headphones etc.

This would allow you to get all your sounds collapsed to mono, not just the ones from WMP.

But it depends on your sound card i suppose.
posted by misterbrandt at 4:02 PM on July 6, 2005

Response by poster: Hrm, for whatever reason the Control Panel speaker settings thing doesn't have an effect (Dell Latitude D600 laptop), but it certainly looks as if that's what it's s'posed to do.

On second thought, though, I think the 1/8 stereo-mono plug is probably the best solution for me after all. Thanks anyhow!
posted by LordSludge at 2:42 PM on July 7, 2005