Insert sound file greyed out

[Guest]

I am trying to add a couple sound tracks to a picture slide show I am working
on and when I try to add the music, the insert sound file is greyed out. I
have the slide selected but it won't give me that as an option. What can I
do?

 

[Guest]

Oh and I am using Powerpoint 2003

 

[Michael Koerner]

Do a Detect and Repair, then make sure that I had all the updates for
PowerPoint 2003, SP (2) is the latest, and see if that does not clear up
your problem.

What type of sound file are your tying to insert?

 

[Guest]

I did the detect and repair, checked for updates (none), I have vers SP2 and
there is still no option to insert sound as it is greyed out. At this point
I would be happy to insert any kind of sound, but I am looking to insert MP3
files.

 

[Michael Koerner]

Wow! Never come across this before. What do you use now to play your MP3
files with?

 

[Guest]

We play them on the computer, burn them on CD's to play in cars and on the
kids MP3 players.

I don't even have the option to add the music because that command is greyed
out though. I will just have to make a CD to play as the slide show is
playing I guess.

 

[Austin Myers]

Corinne

Go to Start > Run and type "mplay32.exe". This *should* start the Windows
MCI player. Now using File > Open select your MP3. Does it play properly?



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia, PFCPro, PFCExpress
http://www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Michael Koerner]

My next suggestion has been suggested by Austin. Please try it and get back
to us with the results.

 

[Guest]

No, I get a problem occurred in initializing MCI error message. We play
these things all the time, why won't it work this way? And does this error
have something to do with why it is greyed out in Powerpoint?

 

[Austin Myers]

No, I get a problem occurred in initializing MCI error message.

Ok, I suspected this was the issue.

We play these things all the time, why won't it work this way? And does
this error
have something to do with why it is greyed out in Powerpoint?

Absolutely! PowerPoint uses the MCI player for all media in PowerPoint. If
the MCI player is not working, PowerPoint can't do anything with the media.


Let's try the easy solution first. Download and re-install Windows Media
Player 10 (NOT 11) on your PC. Although PowerPoint doesn't use it directly,
reinstalling the Media Player should reset your codecs, filters, and file
associations. Hopefully that is all it takes to get you running again. Be
sure to holler back if it doesn't.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia, PFCPro, PFCExpress
http://www.pfcmedia.com