Playing MP3 in music playlist?
 

Is the aquarium suppose to be playing MP3s if inserted into the playlist or has this feature not been implemented yet? I have tried adding an mp3 in all betas but it does not play. What I have noticed though is that when I do try and play a mp3 file that my ram dwindles away until there are only a few megabytes of memory left and then when I close the screensaver it takes forever to close while its freeing up all that ram it was taking.

I am using:

P4HT@3.2GHZ
1.5GB PC3200 Ram
NVidia Geforce 7300GT 512MB
Soundblaster Audigy
Windows XP SP2

Yes, it should play MP3s. Do the MP3s play in other utilities, like Windows Media Player?

Yes, I just checked Windows Media Player as I use another program to listen to MP3s but windows media is playing them just fine as well as a host of other programs I checked like WinAmp, PowerDVD, BSPlayer etc.

haven't tested this much, so i'm not sure this may or may not be the cause, but it already happened in some other software (and some portable player)... check your if your MP3s are in Variable bit rate or constant bit rate, some simply don't like the variable.

Thanks for suggestion. I have tried both VBR and CBR MP3s and both do the same thing. Very weird.

What are the exact symptoms? If you add an MP3 to the list, does the program just keep repeating the default music? If you delete the default CanonGuitar.sgt from the list, does it not make any sound?

There are definitely some bad Variable Bit Rate mp3 files out there.

I suggest using RazorLAME to create mp3 files. I know it's old software, but it uses the best encoder -- LAME.

If I add an MP3 it just plays Pachebel over and over. If I delete Pachebel then I just get silence. And also the ram dwindles away. I have MA3 running in a window so I can see my available ram and right now its fluctuating between 3 and 4mb. If I disable the music then the ram returns. I also unistalled all MA and removed any reference in registry and then reinstalled from scratch and same problem. There is no rush to fix this Jim. I understand focusing on other areas of the aquarium but it would be nice one day to eventually be able to add a playlist of MP3s. Pachebel is my fav classical piece so I don't mind it in the meantime. How do I get the Pachebel back though since I deleted it in my attempt to trace the MP3 problem?

As for types of MP3s, I have tried both VBR and CBR and as for encoding I have tried MP3s that were Xing encoded and LAME 3.97 encoded.

I am able to use a variety of mp3s from various sources in Marine Aquarium 3 Beta 6 with no problems.

It took me a few to figure out the setup. I went into Settings, removed Pachabel from the list, then added a bunch of mp3s from different sources encoded by different people (including myself). I went back into the Aquarium and it was still playing Pachabel. I pressed F8 which I guess stops the music and then F9 which after 2-5 seconds, a random song from the playlist starts up. I alternated between F8 and F9 and was able to play all of the songs I added to the list successfully.

EDIT: I should add that by closing and restarting the Aquarium, I've eliminated that 2-5 second delay between pressing F9 and getting the next song to play. It starts almost immediately.

I wonder which version of the mp3 codec you have installed on your PC.

For XP, it's:

Start -> Settings -> Control Panels -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Hardware tab -> Audio Codecs (on mine I have to pick the 2nd one) -> Properties -> Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (Pro).

I have Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec and LAME 3.97 in the properties. Not sure why it isnt playing as all other programs are playing my MP3s with no problems. I am planning a fresh install of Windows XP soon so hopfully that will fix the problem and if it resurfaces I can more easily track the culprit. Thanks for your help.