Audacity not loading songs right?

[Redrum]

Hi there, I've been a Audacity user for quite some time, I recently did a reformat, after reinstalling Audacity I quickly noticed that say a 3min song will load up and only show it as 1min long, obviously it plays the song too fast but it doesn't sound like chipmunks rather than listening to a song being fast forwarded.. I have tried to uninstall/reinstall, I also recently went from onboard sound (SoundMAX audio) to a Creative Audigy SE and thought that might be the problem so I went back to the onboard sound with no fix.. the files I am loading are mp3 for sure, I tried loading a WMA but I'm sure you guys know that it wont.. um I have also tried changing the rate and it will extend the song but to where it plays too slow.. I have looked and looked for a fix.. and cant find anything.. if this problem was already covered I apologize because I could not find it.. and the only reason that I took the time to register and post is that I love this program and want to get back to using it.. thx for you time. Red

[steve]

Does this happen with all mp3's, or is just a specific file that you have this problem with?
How about WAV files, do they play OK?

[Redrum]

no all mp3's .. I dont have any WAV files that I know of..

EDIT* I will dl a mp3 to wav converter and try tho..

[Redrum]

Ok some new news.. I tried a mp3 to wav converter and I couldn't even get those to play in Media player at any rate, at every rate I tried it would sound like the song is being fast forwarded, the same way Audacity is loading mp3's? Also I had forgot to delete the drivers from the Creative card.. I did that and still no fix And lastly one thing that I noticed was the bit rate of my songs.. seemed while downloading.. I cant remember ever seeing a different rate than 128 however my songs range from 98 to other weird ( to me anyway ) rates such as 130, 162, 194, 285, 352, 498, 528, 727, and a few other strange numbers is this normal or could this be a part of the problem... also wondering if somehow the registry entries from Audacity could be corrupted somehow and if so how to get rid of them and try a re install... once again thank you guys for your time.

[Redrum]

also some specs:

XP sp3, SoundMAX onboard sound, updated drivers, any idea's at all here guys would be appreciated I'll try anything as I do not want to go to another audio editor...

EDIT* getting ready to uninstall/re install soundMAX to see if that might help.. will post back asap..

[steve]

Here is a short MP3 that is known to be good for you to try: http://easyspacepro.com/audacity/examples/piano.mp3
And a short WAV file: http://easyspacepro.com/audacity/examples/piano.wav

[Redrum]

ummm ok.. so both of those files load and sound fine... so now what? Is it the crazy bit rates that is screwing everything up?

[steve]

The mp3 that you tried there was a 128kbps CBR (Constant Bit Rate) MP3.
Let's see af a Variable Bit Rate (VBR) MP3 works. Try this file: http://easyspacepro.com/audacity/examples/piano_VBR.mp3

[Redrum]

yes it works as well.. I dont get it.. I have no problem with these files.. but any of my songs sound like a cassette tape on FF lol...

[steve]

So how many of these MP3s that don't work properly do you have?
Perhaps you could upload the shortest of them onto the internet and post a link.
There must be something that is different about them.