MP3 files don't play from IE7

[Ray Dawson]

I have Vista Home Premium.

If I click on an MP3 file on the computer, it plays in Windows Media
Player.

Therefore codecs etc are installed.

However, if I go on the internet using IE 7 and click on an MP3 on line,
it doesn't play and I get an error from IE7 "Internet Explorer cannot
display the webpage".

If I right click on the file on the web page and 'Save Target as', then it
downloads and can be played in WMP by clicking on it on the computer.

How do I get MP3 files to play via IE7?

I've looked in 'Manage Add-ons' and under 'Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer', Windows media player is listed, as is Audio_MP3
Moniker Class and Windows Media services DRM - but they are not listed in
'Add-ons currently loaded in IE'.

What settings are needed for IE7 to play mp3 files online via WMP?

Any help appreciated.

Ray D

 

[John Inzer]

I have Vista Home Premium.

If I click on an MP3 file on the computer, it plays in Windows Media
Player.

Therefore codecs etc are installed.

However, if I go on the internet using IE 7 and click on an MP3 on
line, it doesn't play and I get an error from IE7 "Internet Explorer
cannot display the webpage".

If I right click on the file on the web page and 'Save Target as',
then it downloads and can be played in WMP by clicking on it on the
computer.

How do I get MP3 files to play via IE7?

I've looked in 'Manage Add-ons' and under 'Add-ons that have been
used by Internet Explorer', Windows media player is listed, as is
Audio_MP3 Moniker Class and Windows Media services DRM - but they are
not listed in 'Add-ons currently loaded in IE'.

What settings are needed for IE7 to play mp3 files online via WMP?

Any help appreciated.

Ray D

=========================
Maybe it's a firewall issue...have
a look at the following articles:

Windows Vista -
Understanding Windows
Firewall settings
http://tinyurl.com/2qsapx

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/help/230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee1033.mspx

Windows Vista -
Allow a program to communicate
through Windows Firewall
http://tinyurl.com/2oql7m

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/df3de57e-86d8-4cd7-808d-9907561b21bc1033.mspx

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Ray Dawson]

=========================
Maybe it's a firewall issue...have
a look at the following articles:

Windows Vista -
Understanding Windows
Firewall settings
http://tinyurl.com/2qsapx

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/help/230d8c47-ee63-47e1-a1f6-a1d38b07dbee1033.mspx

Windows Vista -
Allow a program to communicate
through Windows Firewall
http://tinyurl.com/2oql7m

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/df3de57e-86d8-4cd7-808d-9907561b21bc1033.mspx

Thanks for that, but Windows Media Player is enabled in the firewall.

Any other ideas gratefully received.

Cheers,

Ray D

 

[Tim]

do you have a download manager installed? often, they will grab MP3 links
from the browser

 

[Ray Dawson]

No download manager. Just a bog standard installation of Vista Home
premium.

As I say, if I right click and 'Save Target As', the mp3s download. Click
on the downloaded files and they play with WMP. It's just that they don't
play by clicking on them online.

It's as if IE7 isn't passing the information to WMP to play them inside
the browser.

How can that happen and how can I restore the link between the two?

Cheers,

Ray D

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 2/19/2008 2:57 PM, and on a whim, Ray Dawson
pounded out on the keyboard:

No download manager. Just a bog standard installation of Vista Home
premium.

As I say, if I right click and 'Save Target As', the mp3s download. Click
on the downloaded files and they play with WMP. It's just that they don't
play by clicking on them online.

It's as if IE7 isn't passing the information to WMP to play them inside
the browser.

How can that happen and how can I restore the link between the two?

Cheers,

Ray D

Hi Ray,

Can you provide a link to verify it's not the site?

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

This typically means that the file association chain has been munged on the
system.

Are third party players installed? Usually one of those would have stomped
on the file association settings for the player - using the Default Programs
control panel would reset that if that were the case.

 

[Ray Dawson]

The date and time was 2/19/2008 2:57 PM, and on a whim, Ray Dawson
pounded out on the keyboard:


Hi Ray,

Can you provide a link to verify it's not the site?

Any site, but the following is an example - just click on any of the mp3s
and I get the 'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage' error,
although I can download them

http://www.npbc.uk.com/pages/sermons.html

zachd said:

This typically means that the file association chain has been munged on
the system.

Are third party players installed? Usually one of those would have
stomped on the file association settings for the player - using the
Default Programs control panel would reset that if that were the case.

All the default file associations are set for WMP.

Is there a registry setting that makes IE7 play sound files in a window
via WMP, or is there a plugin or add-on which is used?

Cheers,

Ray D

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

Any site, but the following is an example - just click on any of the mp3s
and I get the 'Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage' error,
although I can download them

http://www.npbc.uk.com/pages/sermons.html

They're using some minor validation that blocks my simple HTTP HEAD attempts
and I'm too lazy to use a more complicated route or debug through it. It is
typically unlike that the MIME type for .mp3 would be set wrong on a server.

zachd said:

This question wasn't answered - are there? This isn't an idle question:
various multimedia packages accidentally overwrite the player settings.

All the default file associations are set for WMP.

File associations are heavily layered, so this is still the area of most
interest: what are the values for:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ .mp3 - default value and Content Type
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ WMP11.AssocFile.MP3\shell - default value
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ WMP11.AssocFile.MP3\shell\play\command - default value
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ MIME\Database\Content Type\audio/mpeg - CLSID and
Extension
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\{CD3AFA76-B84F-48F0-9393-7EDC34128127}\ProgID -
default value

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\FileExts\.mp3 - any values here

Is there a registry setting that makes IE7 play sound files in a window
via WMP, or is there a plugin or add-on which is used?

No, the Media Bar was removed several versions ago.

 

[Ray Dawson]

They're using some minor validation that blocks my simple HTTP HEAD
attempts and I'm too lazy to use a more complicated route or debug
through it. It is typically unlike that the MIME type for .mp3 would be
set wrong on a server.

This question wasn't answered - are there? This isn't an idle question:

various multimedia packages accidentally overwrite the player settings.

I have Audacity and Nero installed on the computer, although neither are
configured to play .mp3 files by default - and don't. I do use Audacity
quite a lot for editing mp3s, but only use Nero for CD/DVD burning.

File associations are heavily layered, so this is still the area of most

interest: what are the values for:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ .mp3 - default value and Content Type

Clicking on the .mp3 folder in Regedit shows:
Default) REG_SZ NeroShowTime.Files7.mp3

OpenWithList gives (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)

ShowTime.exe gives (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ WMP11.AssocFile.MP3\shell - default value

(Default) REG_SZ play

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ WMP11.AssocFile.MP3\shell\play\command - default

value

(Default) REG_EXPAND_SZ "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media
Player\wmplayer.exe" /prefetch:6 /Play "%L"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ MIME\Database\Content Type\audio/mpeg - CLSID and
Extension

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
CLSID REG_SZ (Default) REG_SZ {cd3afa76-b84f-48f0-9393-7edc34128127}
Extension REG_SZ .mp3

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\{CD3AFA76-B84F-48F0-9393-7EDC34128127}\ProgID -

default value

(Default) REG_SZ WMP11.AssocFile.MP3

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\FileExts\.mp3 - any values here

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)

OpenWithList -
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
a REG_SZ audacity.exe
b REG_SZ IEUser.exe
MRUList REG_SZ ba

OpenWithProgids -
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
NeroShowTime.Files7.mp3 REG_NONE (zero-length binary value)
WMP11.AssocFile.MP3 REG_NONE (zero-length binary value)

Perhaps the references to Nero ShowTime above are the cause of the
problem?

Any help in putting it right would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Ray D

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

OK, so you have confirmed that the association really isn't fully to WMP,
which is what I thought was happening. This should be easy enough to fix.
=)

Go to the Default Programs control panel. Use the "Set Program Access and
Defaults" tool, then set the player as default that way. This should then
work.

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Ray Dawson]

OK, so you have confirmed that the association really isn't fully to
WMP, which is what I thought was happening. This should be easy enough
to fix. =)

Go to the Default Programs control panel. Use the "Set Program Access
and Defaults" tool, then set the player as default that way. This
should then work.

OK - thanks for that. I had previously set WMP to all of its defaults via
the Default Programs control panel, but it still didn't work.

This time, I uninstalled Nero Showtime first and then did it - with
success! MP3s now play from IE.

Many thanks for all your help.

Ray D

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

Had you used Set Program Defaults or Set Program Access and Defaults? The
first is per-user settings, the latter is for system-wide settings. The
system-wide settings on your box had been corrupted- Nero had reset the
shell associations without resetting the browser associations (MIME
database). So the latter option should likely have fixed you up. =\

 

[Not Me]

I believe there is a setting in IE to 'DO NOT PLAY CONTENT THAT DOES NOT USE
AN EXTERNAL PLAYER'.
Poke around in your settings, uncheck that box, apply, OK, restart IE7
The MP3s should then play in IE7.

 

[lforbes]

This was exactly my problem too. Thanks so much for the registry links.
Showtime was instructed NOT to take the file extensions on install. In the
Default Programs it is WMP that is the default. When I double click on MP3,
AVI and WMA, Windows Media player opens.

However in the registry Showtime was showing the default STILL???

That is a real pain with Nero and unless you know the specific registry
entries you can't do anything about it.

This is why I HATE the stupid "Default Programs" in Vista because it doesn't
change the registry properly.

Thanks again.

Lara

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

So Nero Showtime was doing this to your system? What version of Nero?

It is possible for the player to protect against/stop Nero from doing that,
but currently it does not. Given what you've said, Nero is using old logic
that is a little buggy. But blocking that potentially stops badly written
association logic from working, and I don't know which way is worse.

If someone can confirm me what version of Nero is doing this, I can
potentially follow up with them. =\

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[lforbes]

Hi,

It is Nero 7 Ultimate Edition and the latest build. I bought the version in
the store that didn't support Vista so I downloaded the latest version from
their website.

I chose to install Showtime but I deliberately unticked ALL the extensions
during the install. I have WMP that I use as well as ITunes. However, WMP is
the default and I wanted to keep it that way.

Cheers,
Lara

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

Thanks for the information. It sounds like you are good now, and I'll file
this away in my list of things to investigate.

Thanks,
-Zach

 

[lforbes]

When I get time I will uninstall the entire thing and then not choose
Showtime. Pretty useless piece of software anyway.

It still pretty much ownes the registry but I have hacked the settings for
the most common files that I use.

Cheers,
Lara