Lack of rocking out is hurting my feelings

June 19, 2006 5:35 PM

Why won't mp3's play on my laptop with Vista Beta 2?

I've been messing around Vista beta 2, and I'm noticing some strange behavior. I don't seem to have the ability to play mp3s. I can hear all the OS sounds, and my soundcard is definitely detected and working fine (as is all other hardware), so that leads me to believe that I'm missing a codec or something.

I know it's beta, but still. For Microsoft to not include the ability to play mp3s, seems a little goofy, yeah? Even for them. These are regular mp3s, coded at 320kbps.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is it worth it to try installing XP codecs? I don't want to break anything.

posted by Drunken_munky to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Have you checked to see if an mp3 codec is even installed? In XP you can check this by going to audio properties, and then the hardware tab. Click the properties for the audio codecs, and then, you guessed it, properties again.
posted by cellphone at 5:51 PM on June 19, 2006

What are you using to play them? Does something like Winamp work?
posted by smackfu at 7:32 PM on June 19, 2006

I've had the same problem with media player, but they all play fine in itunes... maybe try a different mp3 player?
posted by cosmonaught at 7:36 PM on June 19, 2006

I will be happy to assist you in figuring out what is wrong. Windows Media Player in Vista is supposed to be able to play back .mp3 files just fine. I will contact you at your gmail account.

If anyone else has any questions or issues with Windows Media type products, feel free to mail me too.
posted by Diddly at 8:06 PM on June 19, 2006

DRM? Check media player configuration.
posted by IronLizard at 5:38 AM on June 20, 2006

Hey guys, just an update.

I think I've found a bug in Media Player, it works sometimes, but not always. I've mailed Diddly (who works for MS) the results of my investigationing (What? That could be a word).

As for using other players, both Foobar2k and Winamp crash for me in Vista, even under compatibility mode. Thanks for trying guys, but I think I'll just have to wait for RC1 to get the "windows media experience". Alas.
posted by Drunken_munky at 12:20 PM on June 20, 2006