Sciencetext Tips & Tricks

Tech talk, social media, blogging, computing tips and tricks

Windows 7 screws mp3s

January 5th, 2009 · by David Bradley >> 4 Comments

windows-buttonsAnyone hoping to check out the beta release of Windows 7 may have turned to the torrent networks where an illegal copy of the next Microsoft operating system has been leaked. However, there is a serious bug in this version of the unfinished OS that ironically could trash the mp3 files those same users may also have illicitly download using the same torrent system.

According to neowin.net, several users have reported a problem with Windows Media Player version 12, a component of the latest Windows 7 beta (build 7000) as corrupting mp3 compressed sound files. According to the site, “approximately 2-3 seconds will be shaved off the beginning of mp3s if you have set your Windows Media Player 12 settings to retrieve information from the internet and update files. The default configuration for WMP12 sets this if you use the ‘express’ option during setup.” Microsoft has apparently confirmed the bug in the beta release, although neowin seems to be the only source on all of this…

Two thoughts: First, could this be a scare-mongering tactic to dissuade casual pirates from downloading an illegal pre-release of Microsoft’s new operating system? Second, who uses Windows Media Player to play mp3s anyway when Songbird and WinAmp are available?

4 responses so far ↓

  • Shirley // Jan 6, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    I see Microsoft is up to their old tricks again… If Vista wasn’t bad enough, now they want to scare us from upgrading to Window’s 7? lol.

    Mind you, this is in the wake of the whole Zune fiasco. :-)

    Yeh, I rarely use Window’s Media Player, but sometimes I do… I’d hate to find my files corrupted.

  • David Bradley // Jan 6, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    I assume it won’t be a problem in the final release of Windows 7 and if one were using the beta legitimately then presumably it would be on a test machine rather than a mission critical one.

  • David Bradley // Jan 8, 2009 at 8:02 am

    @RussST24 Hope you didn’t fry your mp3s – http://tinyurl.com/9ld8ja

  • David Bradley // Jan 8, 2009 at 9:58 am

    “The first hotfix for Windows 7 is now officially released. The Update for Windows 7 Beta (KB961367) is the first publicly known update the Microsoft released for Windows 7, albeit the official beta will only start in 2 days. KB 961367 update is intended to fix a bug where Windows Media Player 12 (WMP12) in Windows 7 may potentially cause data corruption issue on MP3 files.”

    from mydigitalife.info

Leave a Comment






← →