Question : Why I play mp3 in Office PowerPoint 2003 had an error of MCI Error ?

I hope someone can help me. I am getting an MCI Error when I try to play am mp3 file in a PowerPoint Presentation. The error says "The specified file can not be played on the specified MCI device. The file may be corrupt, not in the correct format, or no fil". The error message gets cut off there. The files have been playing in the presentation before, and they play in various players with out a problem. I have not loaded any new software.

I am using MS Office PowerPoint 2003 SP3 on an WinXP SP3 on 2 computers. I have two computers with WinXP SP3 & Office Pro 2003 SP3 that are running. The one handles the MP3s correctly the other get the above error.

I've tried reinstalling MS Media Player 11.0 & no changes. I've been looking at the registry of both to find any difference, no luck. Is there something special or a particular location I should be looking?

I've put the files on a Jump drive, CD & tried running the files across my network. One computers passes all the tests & the other fails all of the tests. The one that does not work, worked the last time I was working on it. I do not remember installing any software between the 2 times.

Any idea how I can resolve this problem?

Answer : Why I play mp3 in Office PowerPoint 2003 had an error of MCI Error ?

Go to Start | Run and type mplay32.exe or mplayer2.exe  Does the MP3 play in that media player? (That is the MCI Media Player. To learn more about it and its role in playing media in PPT, see http://web.archive.org/web/20080822000633/http://www.playsforcertain.com/tutorial.htm

What you're describing sounds like a codec issue to me. At the page above, there are a couple of links to codec packages you might want to take a look at. I had to give you a link via the wayback machine, because the tutorials page at Plays For Certain is currently under construction. So those direct links don't seem to work. I googled K-Lite Codecs and came up with a link here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_lite_codec_pack.htm You'll be able to google the Microsoft Download Center and GSpot if you decide you need to hit those pages, too, after reading those multimedia tutorials at Plays For Certain.com