Why does the music play sometimes in a presentation?

[Guest]

I made a presentation slide show and added music from WMP and all was well. I
made a bigger presentation based on my success and tried to use the same
music but it would not play even though I used the same method and all looked
well throughout the operation. The slide show played but to no music even
though the speaker icon was visible. In desparation I tried to load an MP3
file that I had on my desk top and it worked fine but this was the wrong
music, why is this?

 

[Sonia]

Did you move or rename any of the files after you inserted them? If so you
broke the "links". See:

Sounds/Movies don't play, images disappear or links break when I move or email a
presentation
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00155.htm
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[Charlie]

Yes I moved the slides around in the slide sorter but
isn't that what it is there for if not then why is it
called slide sorter view. I did not try to add the music
until I had sorted the slides and was happy with the show
then i tried to add the music. Have I got something wrong?

 

[Sonia]

You can certainly move slides around. I was really asking about the music files
and whether you had moved them. Media files are linked, not embedded, so
PowerPoint looks for them in the same location they were in when you inserted
them. See:

Sounds/Movies don't play, images disappear or links break when I move or email a
presentation
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00155.htm

You also need to make Custom Animation settings to control when and how the
music plays. See:

Play sounds across multiple slides (A WAV runs through it)
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00047.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks Sonia but no I haven't moved the music as I hadn't included it at that
point. My sequence of events is to make the slide show to my satisfaction
then count the slides and select the music to suit. I would have played the
slide show without music to make sure all is to my satisfaction then I would
add the music but on playing the slide show no sound even though all looks
OK. This trying to use WMA files from My Music and the WMP but the same tune
in MP3 dragged onto the desk top for ease of location from iTunes will play?
I would rather use the WMP file stright from My Music as this would give a
bigger selection and easier process.
Ideas?

 

[Sonia]

Try copying your music files and put them in a new folder called C:\Test. Then
delete and re-insert them. Do they play that way? I'm thinking that the length
of the path to your files may be too long. There is a limit of about 128
characters and anything in My Music starts with C:\Documents and
Settings\Charlie\My Documents\My Music which is about 55 characters.

 

[Charlie]

Thanks Sonia
I knew you would sort it for me. That is the problem. My
file location is enormous. Having moved them into C:\test
they worked well. That will explain why the MP3 files
dropped onto the desk top worked. Brillaint. Thanks again
Charlie

 

[Routsnorkgratnimopie]

You might want to also change the MP3 names to one word names. I had an
intermittent problem with sound files when there were spaces in the name.
Sometimes they worked, sometimes not. Always in the same folder as the
presentation though. Once the names were changed, the problem was solved.

 

[Sonia]

And that inconsistency could also be the path length limitation. Making the
file name shorter will shorten the path.