Irregular playback speed on previously OK files

[bigpallooka]

I am using 1.2.6 Revision 3 With the portableapps.com suite on a Maxtor USB drive with 43% free space on my HP (6710b) Core 2 Duo T7300 2 GHz with 3 GBs of RAM and integrated audio with Soundmax HD Audio Drivers.

I have been using Audacity specifically with mp3 audio books. I use Audacity to join multiple files into Chapters. I have processed dozens of books in the last few weeks without an issue. All of a sudden every mp3 file I import into Audacity plays at irregular speeds. Sometimes very fast, sometimes very slow and sometimes a mixture of both. I thought that possibly I had played with the settings and accidentally changed something but cannot figure out what. I looked for the settings file in the data folder on my USB HDD and it was not where it should have been.

I deleted the program and it's folders and reinstalled it to the USB HDD and found that the Settings folder now contains a registry file. I should mention that I did have a program crash during an export of an mp3 file due I think, to running another applications at the same time. I play the files using CoolPlayer (also part of the portableapps.com suite) or with Audacity itself. All of the files play perfectly in CoolPlayer.

I went back and opened files that had previously been opened and played (but not altered) in Audacity and they too play with irregular speeds but only in Audacity.

If there is a simple answer to my problem then fine but otherwise -
My specific questions are:

Is it possible that with my initial installation some setting were written to the registry and are still being read by Audacity even with a new installation? How do I find them?

Do I have to set the correct bitrate and and sample rate of an mp3 file (bitrates vary from 32 to 128 and sample rates are usually 44100 but a couple have been different) for it to play properly in Audacity ?

If I import an mp3 using the "Read directly from the original file" setting will it alter the original file if I close without saving any changes?

Is this a hardware issue?

Regards

[kozikowski]

Windows Audacity 1.2 keeps its preferences in The Dreaded Windows Registry. It's the only version of Audacity that made that mistake. Since you had a System crash, you may very easily have a Registry Corruption.

Try deleting the Audacity program and then reinstalling it. If it doesn't ask you "English?" at first birthday, then the Registry is stuck. Then you need the more severe cleanout.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... o_defaults

After you finish cleaning out, you might consider casting off Audacity 1.2 and go with the latest Audacity 1.3. Also, Audacity 2 is on the horizon. There are newer computers that won't run any 1.2 version of Audacity, so it's rapidly reaching the end of its life.

Koz

[kozikowski]

I forgot a step.

You can have both 1.2 and 1.3 on your machine safely. You just can't use them both at once. Audacity 1.3 Projects will not open in 1.2

Koz

[bigpallooka]

Thank you for your advice but unfortunately it didn't help. Unfortunately V2.2.6 is the most recent version that I have been able to find as a portable version and I am determined to stick to my portable platform at the moment. I might try it on another machine first or give up on chapterising my audio books.

Regards

Having gone back AGAIN I find that deleting the registry entries has worked. I think the reason the files I have been using are causing problems are because they are either corrupted in a manner that doesn't affect their playback in an mp3 player or the id3 tag container at the beginning of the files are causing problems.