Why won't my mp3 music file play in PowerPoint?

[Guest]

Why won't my mp3 music file play in PowerPoint? The mp3 files come from an
external hard drive that is hooked into my computer. These files play just
fine on my computer but they will not play in PowerPoint. I just attended a
PowerPoint Seminar and these mp3 files played all of the time on the
computers on which we were learning, just fine. When the music is inserted
on a slide, it simply does not play. Why?

 

[Echo S]

First thing is that if you're using PPT 97 (thanks for mentioning your
version), you cannot insert an MP3 into it. You can insert the MP3 into PPT
2000 and it will play in 97, though.

Second issue is that your MCI settings may be hosed on your system. See
http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/PowerPoint/multimedia.htm for
specifics there. Do the acid test described in the tutorial:
Start/Run/mplay32.exe Does the MP3 run in that media player?

Third problem could be a path length issue or perhaps a software conflict.
See http://www.echosvoice.com/tshoot_video2.htm for specifics. But try the
test above first.