Some / All MP3s Don’t Play

MediaMonkey 3.x and 4.x include MP3 plugins (in_dsmp3.dll and in_wmp3.dll respectively) that allow MediaMonkey to use Windows’ MP3 codec to play MP3 files. Although this normally works without a problem, there are several cases in which MP3 playback can fail:

  1. MP3 files with bad CRCs or otherwise damaged files. In such cases, you can try using an alternative MP3 plugin such as:
    in_mad.dll: This plug-in is an excellent plug-in especially if you have an audio card capable of 24-bit+ audio resolution, but development of this plug-in is no longer active. It can also be obtained via the MediaMonkey Input Plug-ins page:
    http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/browse/item/mad-input-plugin/

    in_mpg123.dll: This plug-in is considered to be a high-quality plug-in, and streaming incompatibilities with MediaMonkey have been resolved, however, it is no longer actively developed.
    It can be found at: http://otachan.com/in_!mpg123.html

    If you replace the default MP3 Input-Plug-ins with either of the above, make certain to remove or disable the current plug-ins (e.g. change in_wmp3.dll to in_wmp3.dll.off).

    Note: If you want to verify whether an MP3 is damaged, and/or fix them, the following third party tools may be helpful:
    http://www.gromkov.com/faq/repair/mp3_validator.html
    http://www.happymonkeying.com/eSupport/vbrfix.zip
  2. Files have an incorrect extension. For example, mp2 files are sometimes incorrectly assigned an mp3 extension. For such files, you should change the extension to mp2 and install the mp2 codec:
    http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/browse/item/mp2/
  3. If you have a version of Windows that doesn’t come with Windows Media Player and valid Codecs, then no audio files will play. To resolve, you’ll need to install the missing codecs.
  4. If Windows Media Foundation and Audio System Services have been corrupted (this has been observed on some upgrades to Windows 10), then all audio files will fail to play. To fix this: a) Using REGEDIT, verify that “KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Audiosrv\” Key “DependOnService” contains only “AudioEndpointBuilder RpcSs” and does _not_ contain a line with “MMCSS”. If it does, delete it and restart the system b) From the command prompt, use the “sfc /scannow” command to fix both “Windows Audio” and “Windows Audio Enpoint Builder” services if they are missing or have corrupted settings. c) Reinstall the Sound card driver. Uninstall existing -> Restart System -> Let Windows install default or install latest one from sound card chipset manufacturer (Realtek, C-Media, Connexant, …)
  5. In some cases, it may also be that codecs are installed, but that they are misconfigured. Here is a link to a brief tutorial re. fixing Windows Codecs: http://www.looprecorder.de/tut_l3codec.php

Applies to:

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