Re: Problem with RIFF tags in audio ripped with WMP11 x64

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Neil.

Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media] wrote:
This is a peer supported newsgroup, so there's no "moderator" nor is
there any expectation that answers can be provided in a given time
frame.

It happens your post has coincided with a massive drop in newsgroup
volume, which I suspect is caused by a broken web interface to the
newsgroup, so it's likely that very few people have actually been able
to respond even if they knew the answer to your well argued (but
highly technical) question and resolution tests.


I understand that the forums aren't a paid or high-priority support mechanism. I was just a little worried my question had been overlooked (which is unlikely given the dedication of most helpers here).
OK so it's not a problem I've ever tested or am able to test in the
specific environment you quoted (WMP11/64). However the behaviour
would be expected to be the same in WMP11/32 so I can at least look
around for ideas.

There have always been some issues of instability or incompatibility
between various applications use of tagging, particularly in MP3
though I don't think very many people use raw WAV (i.e. it's an edge
case) so the number of active testers in any case would be low.
I understand this is definitely a corner case, both from the WMP and the player (Helium Music Manager 2007) side of things. Who uses WAV/BWF/RF64 these days outside of the big production studios? And not even there sometimes. So I'm "special" ;)
There's recently been a new feedback loop introduced for MVPs so I'm
willing to put the complete problem report into that and see if
anything comes back - it could be weeks realistically before any
resolution or detail is made available even then.
That would be a great idea. I can provide any header data you might need, without having to upload hundreds of megs of audio. And time isn't a real big problem at the moment, despite my wailing about no response earlier. It will become important in the coming months, but right now I just need to know that this is being investigated. And fixed.
One or 2 things to clarify is the other players you mentioned - which
ones are they, and do they do any form of autoupdate to the files ?
The only player that has this trouble is Helium Music Manager 2007. I'm working with the developers, and they have bent over backwards trying to figure out why their player breaks on WMP ripped tracks, and ONLY on WMP ripped tracks. They have stated that they don't do any kind of file update under any circumstances for RIFF files - all that data is managed in the database (MySQL).

They have rewritten their player code so that the non-standard WMP metadata doesn't break their player, but although that has fixed the problem on x32 machines, their fix doesn't appear to have fixed the probem on the x64 setup I'm using.
In WMP, are the files also added to the library and monitored folders,
or are these files effectively isolated from the player library, other
than when actually played ?

The files are ripped and stored outside WMP - WMP doesn't run apart from the initial rip. I've just checked, and WMP did add the track references to its library, but I haven't played or tested the files within WMP itself.
And I guess there may be a better place to post this after all that -
the real hardcore experts on underlying format handling hang out on
the newsgroup microsoft.public.windowsmedia.sdk

That may be another avenue to explore.
I might take the problem up there, then. I understand this is probably a bit too low-level/low-interest/corner case for the forum here. And since it's a header format bug, the SDK folks might have more ideas. Thanks for the suggestion.

Believe me, I know how much this looks like a simple player corrupting the file problem! But I've got the developers pointing at the badly-formed headers, and they're absolutely adamant that no file modification takes place, so I'm

Thanks again for taking the time, I appreciate your ideas and suggestions.
HTH
Yes, it did! :)
-PCP
.

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