Driver error while initialising MP3 audio

'Driver' error while initialising MP3 audio

Systems vary in their capabilities. A generic install of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE does not provide native support for MP3 audio. This may also be true for Windows ME, but I do not know.
As far as I am aware, MSIE 5 (or later) installs the resources necessary for MP3 playback. DVD/on-line media codec packs should also install the resources necessary for MP3 playback.

If you are not a 'geek' and don't fancy making small registry options - then I am afraid that this is where your time with WaxLyrical comes to an end. You will need to locate a system-wide MP3 codec and install it (does your computer play DVDs?).

The 'geek' option

This requires modifications to the system registry. If you do not fully understand how to do this, or the possible side effects - DO NOT DO IT!

By default WaxLyrical tries to play the MP3 file using the default driver that claims MP3 as a recognised filetype. It is possible that this driver is not completely compatible with your system (perhaps you inadvertently installed an older 16 bit Windows 3.1 driver in a newer 32 bit version of Windows? did you install anything 'old' recently?).

You should open the \Windows\System.ini file in Notepad, and look for the "[MCI]" section. It will look something like:

[mci]
cdaudio=mcicda.drv
sequencer=mciseq.drv
waveaudio=mciwave.drv
avivideo=mciavi.drv
videodisc=mcipionr.drv
vcr=mcivisca.drv
MPEGVideo2=mciqtz.drv
DictAudio=mciwa16.dll
MpegVideo=mpeg16.dll
ActiveMovie=mciqtz.drv
RealMagic=mpeg16.dll
Magic=mpeg16.dll
ReelMagic=mpeg16.dll
DVDVideo=mpeg16.dll

You can instruct WaxLyrical which of these devices you wish to use. To do this, open the Registry Editor at:
\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\WaxLyrical\Settings
and create a new string value called "MCIdriver", and set the value of the string to the desired MCI driver.
The name of the MCI driver is the part to the left of the equals in the list, for example "MPEGVideo2", "ActiveMovie", and "MpegVideo".

If the default does not work, try "MPEGVideo2", "ActiveMovie", or "MpegVideo". If these do not work, you may also wish to try to use your DVD playback driver.
Enter the names exactly as shown, with no spaces.

If you get the error "MPEG CreateTask32 is not successful" (or similar), this means the playback will not work using that driver.

It is also possible to specify that the system search for a driver capable of opening MP3 files. This is only guaranteed to work if your system is totally correctly set up. For example, I have two DVD playback programs (one has a good interface but doesn't do widescreen aspect properly, one has a horrible interface but can cope with the various aspect ratios), plus over time a lot of stuff has messed with the video/audio playback.
In any case, if I ask my system to play MP3 audio and look for a driver itself, it fails. If I ask my system to play MP3 audio by specifying a driver, it works fine.

If you wish to have your computer look for a driver for MP3 audio, then set the value of the MCIdriver to '-' (that's a single hyphen).

For obvious reasons, this is an advanced feature, and no end-user support is offered in this situation.

MCI 'alias' error
Changing to a different song