MP3 files not loading correctly

[Gale_Andrews]

@john mayo

I have seen several recent previous posts about this same problem. Each time, no one could duplicate it.

Could you please give those examples? Might you be thinking of MP4 files on OS X: Audacity 2.1.0: FFmpeg required for MP4/M4A/MOV/ALAC import That one is an Audacity problem but it is now fixed.

@john mayo

This is an HP desktop running Windows 7 64 bit with current patches.

I have been using Audacity 2.0.6 for many months without problem. Suddenly, yesterday when I tried to load any mp3 file, it goes through the progress bar, but there are no waveforms visible. There is just a pair of gray empty tracks where the waveforms should be. When I close Audacity, it asks if I want to save the changes. I say no.

I tried several mp3 files that I had successfully loaded a month ago, and they won’t load now. All my mp3 files are from a Tascam digital audio recorder that has worked successfully for at least 8 months with Audacity.

I can play the mp3 files in Windows Media Player so I know there is content in them.

I can still open an existing Audacity project aup file and see the waveforms.

I updated to Audacity 2.1.1, but nothing changed with this problem.

I still have Audacity 2.0.6 on my laptop, and it will correctly load the same mp3 files that fail to load on my desktop. The laptop has essentially the same apps and environment as the desktop, yet Audacity works on the laptop and not on the desktop.

I think something has changed about the environment on my HP - maybe some recent Windows patch? I have recently installed Malwarebytes on both the desktop and the laptop, so that probably is not the cause.

I re-installed Audacity 2.0.6 on the desktop, but that didn’t change the problem.

Any suggestions?

Does Help > Show Log… think the files imported?

Does pressing SPACE play the invisible files?

You could try a system restore back to the point before the problem started.


Gale