WMP 12 - Short pause at end of MP3/WMA

I have recently installed W7 (full install on new hardware). When I play music I have a 2 second pause around 10 seconds before the end of each track, then the track carries on. This only happens when playing an album or a playlist i.e. where there is another track 'in front' of the one currently playing. If I play a single track or the last one plays on an album or playlist then the track plays perfectly. I've had some dealings with MS about the problem but so far no resolution, can anybody suggest what the problem might be?

Hi, thanks for your reply. have posted specs.

I understand what you're saying about resources but I have no problem with TV, DVD, Bluray etc. I have even watched Bluray while recording TV without any glitches, so I can't see how simply playing an MP3 would have that much of an impact on the system.

Hi All,
Last week I bought a new I7 HP Laptop and am also having the same problem as Davand63 (tracks skipping/ stuttering in WMP 12 in the last 20 second range) and am wondering if there are any other solutions or fixes?

I have done the following actions to try to fiix it:
Disabling all Control Panel|Sound|Playback (all) | Enhancements|Disable All Enhancements
-This didn't do anything / no result

Adjusting the network buffer in WMP (even though it isn't going across the network!)
-This moved the skip/stutter to earlier or later in the track but did not get rid of it


Some other things I noticed - playing tracks in windows media centre worked fine - there was no skipping/stuttering. Playing a file in WMP 12 (not via the library) there was no skipping; I only seem to have this problem when I am playing music through the WMP 12 library please help - it is driving me mad!

p.s. The CPU activity never gets above 10% and I have also tried disabling the virus scanner while playing from the library (which didn't work either)

Thanks for you help

Hi beanie,
I have the same problem whether I use Media Player or Media Center. I also have the problem if I open a file direct rather than select through the library. I disabled the network sharing service but that makes no difference. I am currently using VLC to play music which works without any problem at all. I'm really disappointed with this aspect of W7 as I use mt PC for everything - TV, DVD, Bluray and it makes no sense to do all this with MC and music through VLC. I'm seriously considering the WMP11 hack, or returning to Vista if it can't be sorted! Please let me know if you have any luck from other sources.
Davand63

I have the same problem. It just skips in the last 10 seconds of each track. On my pc (sony vaio LT-1M) it only affects tracks in the windows media pro format (all my music!) except tracks in mp3 format. mp3 plays fine.
Any ideas out there?
Thanks