Peculiar problem with Windows Media Player

[vhawk]

I'm afraid that this is rather long and complicated to describe:

I have found that I can copy a whole bunch of MP3 tracks from a CD into a file or folder and when I do that I have the option to select play all and it plays each track seriatim, which is lawyer speak in Latin for one by one.

However, if I convert some cda files into a folder having first converted them to MP3 when I tried to click on select all I get this peculiar thing with Windows media player which says close and it does the same thing if they have been converted into Windows media player format. I was wondering if anybody could explain to me why this is happening or how I can prevent it from happening, I wonder if it was because the MP3s had been converted from CDA's but I'm even more puzzled that I get this close effect regardless of the format of the tracks, i.e. whether they are Windows media player format or MP3s. The reason that I want them all to play one after the other is so that I can listen to an entire audio book through the night. I don't have this problem with another audio book which is entirely composed of MP3s. Now I wonder if there is another thing which could play MP3 files under the XP operating system that isn't Windows media player which seems to be doing this irritating trick with me.

I'm sorry that this is so long and complicated, but it's hard to explain. Fortunately I have a dictation program which enables me to speak what I want to type rather than type it with one finger with why one remaining hand. The downside of that is that I tend to be a little prolix.

 

[Mark56]

Sounds like something is going wrong. What are you using to rip the CD?

 

[vhawk]

it's something called free rip but I get the same thing if I use windows media player to rip them into mp3's or windows media player format, weird or what? I don't have the problem with another audio book made up of mp3 tracks if I put them all in one folder I get play all and they all play seriatim fine without this close business. the folder is a folder on an external usb hard drive if that is a clue.

thank you very much for taking an interest, it's very good of you.

 

[Mark56]

This is indeed a strange problem. The only thing I can think of is that the CD is copy protected, but I would expect you to be getting an error message telling you this when you rip the CD.

This guide gives a lot of information on ripping protected CD's. Not sure it will help but you may get some usefull links to other ripping software that may fix the problem, you can also see how to find out if the CD is protected.

http://www.co-bw.com/DMS_how_to_rip_copy_protected_cds.htm

 

[vhawk]

no, i don't think it's copy protected, the tracks will rip into my music in the ordinary way, but I just want to dump them all into one folder to keep them playing seriatim through the night-I'm childish like that i like something to keep me company.it woks fine with the tracks on the other book which are mp3'sany way, it's just hat that book is not so entertaining. i can get the lighter book to display inmedia player but i can't select them 'playall' for some daft reason.it's a bore. I can see them all listed as mp3's in the folder but when i go to 'play all' I get this close business. I was puzzled and thought I would ask you clever chaps because the other book plays fine, it's already mp3's, but convert the fun book into anything else and I get close. I know windows media player will play mp3's just not these ones even if i put them in a folder on the c drive, the buffalo external drive is called F:. but the other book's mp3 play from folders in that too, often hundreds of them-it's a very long book.

 

[Mark56]

OK, so can you select and play an individual track from the problem book or does that also produce the same error?

Have you looked at the file format on the problem CD, is it the same as the one that works.

 

[Mark56]

Another thought to add. Take a look in event viewer and see if it has logged an error when WMP crashes. This may have some information that will help.

 

[vhawk]

the light entertainment book is a short history of nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, the other book I will simply call the serious book and that is made up of copy protected MP3s which cannot be ripped by a Windows media player, but oddly enough I can copy and paste them all into a folder on the F: drive from which they play quite happily, even all through the night and into the next day. however if I convert a brief history of nearly Everything into something other than CDAs I can see them listed but if I go to play all I get the close problem. They play fine if they have been ripped in the ordinary way by Windows play media player but not just all through the night as I wish. Ordinarily All I have to do is play one of the CDs or any CD and Windows media player will copy it into the library but I can't make them keep playing seriatim there as the other book's MP3s will keep playing.so I thought fine I will get Windows media player to convert them into MP3 format into a file or rather a folder and then I can select play all and off they will go, but no, Windows media player opens and immediately says close. Knowing me I'm probably doing something really really stupid I'm not very bright about these things.I'm sorry if this all sounds very complicated I tend to get into a bit of a model when I tried to explain things using this dictation program. It is so kind of you to take an interest and I really do appreciate it.

 

[vhawk]

thank you very much Mark if I may rudely call you that, I doubt if it would mean anything to me as I don't really understand these things, I'm not as clever about computers as you chaps are, to me it might as well be magic, I'm afraid I tend to fall back on nyou chaps when something goes wrong and I don't understand it,you are always so kind and helpful to me, I am a complete fool when it comes to computers,I wish there was something I could do for you to repay your kindness, but I'm only an old lawyer with half a brain. There was a time when Windows media player would list all the tracks of the book and I could drag and highlight them all and select play all but for some peculiar reason it won't let me do that any more. I didn't know that Windows media player was crashing I just thought it was being the usual mysterious Windows messages which are Delphic at best, or they ever say is something unspecified has gone wrong but they never tell you what. I don't see why the cdas taken from the CD and converted intoMP3s and all put in one folder should not play exactly like all the other MP3s that I put into a folder. Maybe Windows media player is just in a bad mood or something or needs propitiating in some suitable manner that is not that vouchsafed to people like me who are not initiated in the arcane mysteries of computers. I would have thought it's fairly simple, rip them into a folder as MP3s and then select play all, but for some reason Windows media player just doesn't like that, maybe it knows I'm a complete ***** when it comes to these things and gets some sort of cruel amusement from irritating me;I tend to get rather anthropomorphic about computers sometimes.


I hope this doesn't come out as gibberish because I can't really see it all in the little window that is provided and the dictation thing doesn't always transcribe everything I say accurately; I try to correct it if I can but sometimes I can't quite see where it has gone wrong. So please forgive me if it looks like nonsense. Thank you again for your patient kindness

Best

Peter

 

[Mark56]

Yes this is indeed an odd problem.

Did you follow my suggestion in my last post, you seem to have overlooked it.

It does seem that WMP is crashing as when you give it the instruction to play it is closing down.

When you try to play the book in question are you dragging & dropping the album into the playlist first before clicking on play?

 

[vhawk]

thanks Mark, yes I did but it looks as if I shall just have to give up as I would not have understood anything in the thing to which you referred me, none of these things mean anything to me, but it was very kind of you to take the time and trouble to try to help me and I am sincerely grateful for that;you've done your best and we can do no more.the moral of the story is don't try to help stupid people like me,who cannot really understand anything about computers at all,we are not worth the effort. But not to worry, I shall solve it by a prolonged process of trial and error no doubt; my guiding principle in life is 'there are more ways of skinning a cat than drowning the bastard'. My old boss taught me that when I was14,and it has served me well all my half-century+ of life.

Best


Peter