A bit of help please!

[wingnut1]

I have about 100-150 music albums so far stored on my PC, listening through MCE and up till recently didn't have a problem with the quality as i was listening to them at low volume. When turning the volume up the quality decreases and there is significant distortion, this is because the quality when ripped was low and i was wondering whether there is some way of converting these files to a higher bitrate or have i had it and need to wipe them off and spend hours again re-loading back on to a higher bitrate. I would rather have lossless if poss, if there is any way this can be done it would be much appreciated.

[Valkirk]

Unfortunately the only way you are going to get improved quality is to re rip at either a higher bit rate or lossless. Have thought about it myself (I ripped at 128k) you can't replace what has gone from the music without!

[wingnut1]

Bummer! I'll have to wipe everything off and start again.

Thanks for the reply though!

[sbowler]

I sometimes have problems playing songs from WMP but also use Nero software and this is signigicantly better. Before doing anything try this. When WMP is running, goto Task manager, (right click an empty part of the task bar) select task manager. Goto the processes tab, look for wmplayer.exe right click this and then select set priority, choose the high option. See if this makes any difference to the sound.

[wingnut1]

Ok thanks for that i'll give it a go. Does that mean it will if at all change the quality whilst playing only or permantly! And would this have to be done for every track or everytime i listen to music?

[Valkirk]

It is just giving the WMP process a higher priority so it can take more processor resources. It is not a permanant change just improves the playback (Like upgrading your CD Player would) It should only need to be done once, but unfortunately even through using better player, increasing resources or different codecs etc you can only improve so much...they can't replace information from the original tracks

[wingnut1]

Thanks guys, i will try it tonight but if there isn't that much improvement then i think i'll cut my losses and wipe everything and start again.

[wingnut1]

Ok now i have a bigger problem! this morning i deleted all my music files to start loading them back on at a higher bitrate and now as i attempt to copy the files nothing happens. I then went into media player and attempted to rip from there and i got the error message, Secure storage protection error. Restore your licenses from a previous backup and try again. This is a DRM license problem and can't seem to find any way of getting over it, has anybody else experienced this and found the solution!

[Mac Sami]

Not had your problem, and it's been a while since I've ripped CD's, but I'd highly recommend CDex for CD ripping:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos/

If you rip your CD's into folders / subfolders, and then fire up WMP, you can delete everything from the WMP library (when asked, delete library only, not library and files!). Then you can scan for new music and re-add the newly ripped mp3's to WMP.

[GeoffDedman]

It sounds as if you are trying to copy files from another computer or drive and that you have deleted your licences when deleting your music. If you have not backed up your licences you need to copy the original cd's again.
If the music is being ripped from CD using WMP make sure you have not checked the "Protect Content" box and WMP will not create licences for protecting the music.
If the music was a DRM protected download, you have a problem!

[wingnut1]

Originally Posted by GeoffDedman

It sounds as if you are trying to copy files from another computer or drive and that you have deleted your licences when deleting your music. If you have not backed up your licences you need to copy the original cd's again.
If the music is being ripped from CD using WMP make sure you have not checked the "Protect Content" box and WMP will not create licences for protecting the music.
If the music was a DRM protected download, you have a problem!

Hi Geoff, basicaly i deleted all the music albums from media center and checked to see if the files had gone from the "my music" folder of which it was still showing the folders, so i deleted them. I then tried to re-copy the origanal cd's back into media center but at a higher bit-rate and nothing happened. I then went into wmp and tried to rip them that way and that is when the error message came up. None of the music was downloaded copy protected as it was all from the cd's that i own. I will check tonight for the "copy protected" button but if you have any other idea's it would be much appreciated!

[Valkirk]

Hi WIngnut,

Yep removing everything is not the smoothest thing in the world!

Basically forget MCE for the moment and open Media Player directly, go to the Library Tab, select the All Music selction and make sure you have deleted everything in there (If it asks you is you want to delete from My Library and My computer say yes) once all deleted close Media Player, go to your My Music folder if that is where you keep your music and check everything is deleted. Then Empty your recycle bin to make sure it is all gone!

Next reopen Media Player, go to your Tools -> Options click on the Rip Music tab, make sure to select the format you want to rip into, uncheck copy protect and select the audio quality (far right for lossless) OK the options and then insert the CD and start the slow process of ripping them all again!

Let me know if you still get probs! (If still asking for licenses go to the Privacy tab and uncheck Acquire Licenses checkbox)

CHeers,

M

[wingnut1]

Many thanks for that! I shall try and give that a go tonight and will let you know the outcome, it's amazing that something as simple as deleting and replacing music files causes such a big problem, i never have this problem at work using i tunes!

[Valkirk]

Hi Wingnut, how did it go?

The problem lies with all the items using the 'Library' I first had problems when I deleted everything out of the My Music folder and didn't remove from the Media Player Library. Found the best way is to use Media Player rather than MCE and delete everything through that. iTunes doesn't share so less problems

[wingnut1]

Hi Valkirk, to be honest it was too late by the time i got home last night so i am going to attempt it tonight, i'll let you know the outcome.