poor sound quality thru Windows Media Player

[Phil]

I've had a problem with Windows XP Media Player. I have
recorded about a thousand songs,directly from CD, onto
the hard drive of my HP laptop. When playing them back,
thru Media Player, the sound quality is similar to that
of listening to music thru "blown" speakers. Initially I
thought it was that, but switching to a different set of
speakers did not solve the problem. The next step was
calling HP Tech Support, who led me thru eliminating,
then re-downloading all the drivers. Still, no
improvement. At that point, HP strongly suggested that
the sound card was bad and that my laptop should be sent
in for repairs. As a last-ditch attempt before sending my
computer away for an extended time, I decided to
uninstall Windows Media Player, and switch to RealPlayer.
Lo and behold, those same files (WMA) now sound crisp and
clean with no distortion at all, which points the finger
at Media Player, having ruled out the speakers, the sound
card, and the files themselves, as potential suspects. I
like Media Player due to my familiarity with it, and it's
easy-to-use interface. I would like to reinstall it,
provided I can solve this problem. Can anyone tell me why
this is happening, and how to fix it? I'd appreciate
anyone's assistance with this.

 

[zachd [ms]]

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the EQ settings on WMP are up too high. The
EQ can be accessed under WMP's View:Enhancements options... it preamps as
well as equalizes, so it can really screw with the sound on very certain
sound cards. :\

-Zach
--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
Following up to your post with the resolution is good netiquette.
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