I once remember that when I came across a file in Windows Media Player that wasn't in a recognized format, that the player would offer to search for a way to convert the file into a playable format. This solution used to work quite well for me, but recently, it just hasn't worked. Instead, the file is labeled "corrupt" and skipped over. Has anything changed in Windows Media Player in the last few years to diminish its ability to find playable format conversions?

That's a good point. I've noticed that it used to try to find suitable format conversions but now it just says 'can't play file' and you're forced to move to the next one.

In cases like this I'll ask who ever gave me the file in the first place to try again in case the download was interupted. If that doesn't work, I use a different media player

Thanks, Cooper. For the most part I think it's a matter of Windows Media Player maybe just not recognizing newer formats or something like that, which is unfortunate. You would think they would update the player or something like that to keep it competitive and prevent people from having to download FLV players and the like.

My guess is that simply, the first time the file was repairable, and the second time they were not. Its nothing to do with changes to the player.

I would agree with you, except that this has happened way more than just one time. It used to be that the older version of the media player always managed to somehow convert the files and play them, but now it never seems to be able to. It happens to me a lot, and I've wound up relying on a number of other players which just annoys me.

Microsoft are gettling slow, sluggish and useless in building all of their products nowadays.