126 replies to this topic

[crazlunatic]

did this happen to anyone? I'm keeping 2 copies of my giant music library just in case but it's taking up a lot of space

[Dreamspell]

happened to me too ;(
it mostly happens with songs with variable bitrates

[+Brandon Live]

James7, on Dec 31 2008, 07:08, said:

It must be a terrible flaw. As others pointed out, a media player should just play the media and not alter it. Why would this sort of error even occur? Are Microsoft planning to alter or stamp people's media files in Windows 7 in some way or another?

The problem only happens when you edit metadata on a certain class of MP3 file (a file with a header larger than 16KB). When the new metadata is written, it corrupts the beginning of the file. This can happen either when you edit the metadata from inside WMP or Explorer, or it can happen if you have WMP set to automatically fill in missing metadata using the online service and add the MP3 to your library.

This problem is only present in the recently leaked build.

[James7]

Brandon Live, on Dec 31 2008, 12:53, said:

The problem only happens when you edit metadata on a certain class of MP3 file (a file with a header larger than 16KB). When the new metadata is written, it corrupts the beginning of the file. This can happen either when you edit the metadata from inside WMP or Explorer, or it can happen if you have WMP set to automatically fill in missing metadata using the online service and add the MP3 to your library.

This problem is only present in the recently leaked build.

Just out of curiosity (I don't use Windows or anything anyway, but this would likely potentially apply to other programs on other OSes), I realised after I had posted my earlier post that "of course" media players can alter files (the meta-data you mention). My understanding is that meta-data reside in a separate part of the file from the music itself or regular data. So ideally, in the case of WMP (P=Player), you'd just want the program only to be able to alter the meta-data (unlike, say, with Audacity where you could edit the sound data). The question is, how did WMP go beyond its remit there? Obviously again it was a beta and these can have problems (and come with warnings).

[+Preppy]

Officially:

Microsoft is aware of this issue and it will be addressed in the beta program.

[James7]

zachdms, on Dec 31 2008, 13:27, said:

Officially:

Microsoft is aware of this issue and it will be addressed in the beta program.

It's good to know they read forums!

[theyarecomingforyou]

James7, on Dec 31 2008, 20:25, said:

So ideally, in the case of WMP (P=Player), you'd just want the program only to be able to alter the meta-data (unlike, say, with Audacity where you could edit the sound data). The question is, how did WMP go beyond its remit there? Obviously again it was a beta and these can have problems (and come with warnings).

WinAMP creates a separate file while changing tags so it depends how WMP handles things. Clearly it's a pretty ridiculous bug but evidently, for whatever reason, it managed to get into the main build. I wonder whether it is serious enough for Microsoft to issue an update for it.

[+Blank]

So i'm getting mixed replies here.
This was a bug only in the pre beta builds? and it doesnt exist anymore?

So its safe for us to get beta 1 when its released to the public? Im scared to get it ha. but want it
Dont wanna have to fix my media library again.

[~Matt~]

I use Itunes and never have any problems.

[+Preppy]

bAsKeT cAsE, on Dec 31 2008, 20:15, said:

So i'm getting mixed replies here.

"Microsoft is aware of this issue and it will be addressed in the beta program."


From that information, I would infer, correctly or not, that this is a bug that would be addressed by a QFE update for the beta.

[_dandy_]

zachdms, on Dec 31 2008, 21:27, said:

Officially:

Microsoft is aware of this issue and it will be addressed in the beta program.

"Officially"? What's your source?

<Conspiracy theory>
Given that MS has not made the beta available yet through "proper" channels (other than the 6801 PDC build, AFAIK), then it sounds likely that anyone (outside of MS) running any other build has obtained it, uhhh, "elsewhere"...

Less than a week ago there were articles about a fake 7000 floating around...so, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that whoever created it might have altered binaries to do just this...I dunno...if I was so inclined to screw with people's heads, corrupting MP3s or other files is one thing I might do...
</Conspiracy theory>

Personally, I'd wait for MS to make the beta available and compare results then before blaming the WMP team...but that may just be me.

[James123]

_dandy_ said:

Quote

Officially:

Microsoft is aware of this issue and it will be addressed in the beta program.

"Officially"? What's your source?

He works at Microsoft.

[bush]

Phew..

I Lost about 10 songs. Luckily I've got them on my MP3 player.
And, yes, I noticed, that songs in Windows 7 start few seconds later. I thought, it was just some WMP bug, something with crossfading etc. Thank science, only 10

And I wouldn't even thought that there are cuts happening if I didn't see this thread.

[geekypc]

Brandon Live, on Dec 30 2008, 20:53, said:

Very sorry to hear some of you were bitten by this, hopefully you have back-ups or have the Previous Versions feature enabled.

Unfortunately this is an example of why using leaked builds can be a bad idea...

Yea because build 7000 is going to be a lot different than public beta 1..7000..oh yea. They aren't!

[Digitalx]

brandon... should really just put that in his signature or something in bold "I work for Microsoft" lol