# MP3, WMP, XMPlay, and egg on my face... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348 "2003-07-14T11:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/1 "2003-07-14T11:57:36Z")
I’m trying to play an MP3 CD on my work computer. Win2k, WMP9. See my recent [pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=195917) for the first part of the story. All of the mp3s were encoded at home on my Linux box (SuSE 8.2) using the latest version of LAME and the mlame batch conversion script in the following manner: $ mlame -o “-b128” \*.wav \*.mp3 Originally, I had encoded them as VBR, but I ran in to the problems described in my earlier thread. The Stooges “1970”, for instance, shows up and plays at about 1.5x… 5:14 as opposed to 7:something. I found a handful of usenet posts describing similar problems in WMP, so I figured I should encode everything at a constant 128kbs. Well, since I’ve converted everything to CBR, it still plays fast, on CD-R and on the hard drive, whether I’m using Windows Media Player or XMPlay. Which leads me to believe the problem is me. What gives? Am I encoding this stuff wrong? Should I try another player? It’s gotta be able to run off of CD if I do… I can’t actually install anything on this box. I’m beginning to get more than a little frustrated… Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/2 "2003-07-14T12:26:07Z")
I experienced the exact same problem on a work computer with Win2k, WMP (older version than the OP, not sure which), and a college LAN with plenty of diverse MP3 collections on students’ Windows shares. **Any** player of audio or video would play back at a higher than normal rate. WMP, RealPlayer, you name it, every multimedia file was played back at speeds that would make Don McLean sound like the Chipmunks. None of the control panel settings seemed to help; the campus help desk had no idea what was going on; we eventually accepted defeat, learned to live with it, and appreciated that we could listen to more songs during our shifts than if the computer hadn’t been acting up. Sorry I’m not much more help. Just another anecdote to further describe the problem. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/3 "2003-07-15T12:58:28Z")
Did some more digging, and it appears that it might be a driver issue with my sound card. I hope not… that means I can’t do anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/4 "2003-07-15T13:24:03Z")
If nothing else works, maybe you can set up a server at home using Windows Media Encoder and just stream it at work? I don’t know how well that’d work with your Linux box at home, but maybe it’s worth a thought… if not, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![netscape\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8c91f0/32.png) [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/5 "2003-07-15T14:39:48Z")
a mp3 streaming server would be just as good too. this one is pretty good. [http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/ssshout.htm](http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/ssshout.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/6 "2003-07-15T14:50:31Z")
Just a note in response to netscape’s comment: I suggested WMA only because I thought your driver might have problems with MP3 files. But if other formats would work too… so much the better 🙂 Also… did you try to find out what the source of the problem was? -Do those same MP3 files play okay on other PCs? -Can your work computer play ANY known-good MP3 files? -If not, can it play ANY sound format without problems? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/7 "2003-07-15T15:13:28Z")
Thanks y’all. The plot thickens: First off, I can’t stream, due to my employer being bandwidth-stingy. Anway, like I said, the MP3s play fine on my box at home, but it’s Linux. I don’t have access to any othe Windows machine. WMP plays regular audio CDs at chipmunk-speed, too. Though the Windows CD player plays them fine. _I’m_ stumped. ---
**Author:** ![netscape\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8c91f0/32.png) [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/8 "2003-07-15T15:37:59Z")
is there a tempo control? ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/9 "2003-07-15T15:47:38Z")
Supposedly under View \> Enhancements, but it ain’t showing up. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/10 "2003-07-15T16:46:49Z")
Hmm… which version of WMP do you have? Under WMP9, it should be there… look at this [screenshot](http://www.worstoftheworst.net/playspeed.gif). If that doesn’t work… hmm, could you upload one of those MP3s somewhere (with their “normal” duration)? We can at least see if it works on our Windows PCs. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/11 "2003-07-15T17:20:23Z")
I’ve got 9.00.00.2980. Under the Enhancements menu, I’ve got Graphic Eq, Media Link, SRS Wow, and Video settings, but nothing else. I’ll have to upload one of the files to my server tonight, so’s I don’t set off the Bandwidth Dobermans here at work. I suppose I should also check the settings for cdrecord and mkisofs, though I just went with what K3B gave me. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/12 "2003-07-16T22:47:16Z")
Okay, I’ve got one up. I looked for a relatively short file that wouldn’t run afoul of the RIAA. It’s by some old friend of mine in a band called Geraldine. [http://neussubjex.net/misc/gone\_and\_left.mp3](http://neussubjex.net/misc/gone_and_left.mp3) XMMS pegs it at 1:22. Don’t mind the recording quality… it’s supposed to be lofi. What’d y’all get? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/13 "2003-07-16T22:52:53Z")
On second thought, it isn’t the RIAA I should be worried about… it’s the SDMB. I’ve reported my post and if the mods see fit to delete the link, anybody who cares to can email me. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/14 "2003-07-17T08:13:00Z")
It plays fine for me in both Windows Media Player and Winamp ☹ Duration’s 1:22. Maybe you could try something like OGG with a player installed onto the CD? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/15 "2003-07-17T09:49:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by black455 \* > \*\*On second thought, it isn’t the RIAA I should be worried about… it’s the SDMB. I’ve reported my post and if the mods see fit to delete the link, anybody who cares to can email me. Thanks. \*\* If the link is posted by the copyright holder I cannot see why the mods would object. At any rate, the file plays fine for me. 1:22 ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-wmp-xmplay-and-egg-on-my-face/188348/16 "2003-07-17T11:54:33Z")
fsck. Thanks fellas. It’s probably something I can’t fix. I guess I’ll make a Minidisc. Grrr…