Problem with playing joined MP3 files

Muggs · Post by **Muggs** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:12 pm

Hello All,

Ok, I ripped an audio book from CD to MP3 so I could listen on my MP3 player (Creative Zen Touch). When I ripped it, each CD had 99 mp3 files of about 30 seconds each. So I joined them 1-49 and 50-99 to two mp3 files (101 & 102). Everything is fine, BUT when I went to play it in MM 101 (which has a length of 33:59) only plays for ~30 seconds; the same as the first original file.

Obviously MM is seeing a break of some kind in the joined file and moving on to the next track, but I'm not sure how to fix it, or even what to look for.

Any help would be most welcome.

TIA,
Muggs

Post by **Peke** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:31 pm

How Did You joined them?

Muggs · Post by **Muggs** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:39 pm

Hey Peke,

I joined them using a program called musiCutter, It worked great.
If I play the joined file in WMP there's no problem; only in MM.

Do you think this thread should be here or in Bug Reports?

Muggs

Steegy · Post by **Steegy** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:28 am

Apparently musiCutter does a bad job in joining mp3's. The program seems not to care about repairing tag headers and stuff (and so cause 'damaged' mp3's).
'Damaged' mp3 files play in some mp3 players, but not in all. A better mp3 joining program should be used to create decent (not-damaged) joined mp3's.

Maybe MediaMonkey could be more tolerant in playing 'damaged' mp3 files (btw: have you already tried other mP3 input plugins, like MAD or mpg123?), but the main cause is the musiCutter program.

Muggs · Post by **Muggs** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:04 am

Hey Steegy,

Thanks. I have tried 2 or 3 MP3 joiners with same result for this particular audio book. As a test, I joined (with musiCutter) a # of other mp3 files with success.

As far as Inputs go, I had a problem a little while ago, and someone sugested that I get a bunch of input plug-ins. So yes both MAD & mpg123 are in my input plug-ins.
How do I set or how does MM determine which input plug-in to use???

Thanks,
Muggs

Steegy · Post by **Steegy** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:33 am

... how does MM determine which input plug-in to use???

MediaMonkey "asks" every plugin (I think in alphabetical order) if it can read the file extension you want to play.
The first plugin that says "yes, I can play that", gets a chance and should start playing. If that plugin fails to play the file's contents (or stream), MediaMonkey continues its search for another plugin that can handle the file, until a working plugin has been found or until the end of the plugin list has been reached.
This process doesn't always work 100% good, but it's pretty close. Unfortunately, when a plugin plays a song, it doesn't say to MediaMonkey how good it can play the file (e.g. how good it can handle damaged files).

How do I set ... which input plug-in to use???

The only way for the user (you) to select a particular plugin is to disable the other ones (by changing their file extensions from "dll" to e.g. "dll.off")
E.g. if you want to play mp3 files only with the in_mad.dll plugin, you have to disable all other mp3 plugins that are present: in_wmp3.dll, in_dsmp3.dll, in_mp3.dll, in_mpg123.dll.

Muggs · Post by **Muggs** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:55 am

Steegy, you are a genius!!!

Or maybe you just know more about MM than I do, but I'm stickin' with genius.

I put all of the in_xxxx.dll plug-ins into a folder called HOLD and left only the in_mad-0.15.1b-2.dll and all is well.

Thank you!!
Muggs