Not really a problem with downloading per se but a problem in what I get after I download files.

When I do a search for a artist - title the application goes into a search mode and starts listing all the ones it could find. I then click on any one of them to download the mp3 file. Once it is downloaded I try to play it using WPM (or any music playing software). But I always get either a wrong format (ie. the format does not match the extension which is usually an mp3 file) or I get a DRM thingy which there is no way I find that I can even begin to get the license to use that file but my main concern is why do I always get, and I mean always, a file that is not mp3? It doesn't matter which of the several files listed I click on and download they all come out the same; the format does not match the extension .mp3.

Is there something wrong in what I am doing or are these people out there allowing their mp3's to be downloaded and they are not really mp3 files? I don't get it. I thought Limewire was a file sharing network with people from all over the world sharing their music files with one another but I sure can't seem to get anything.

Be careful about downloading songs that are at the top of any search you do.
A lot of the files that have high numbers of shares are bogus files which may not be real mp3 files. (especially if they don't quote a bit number like 128KB/s and are just blank) Why don't you download a song from a really well known band like the Roving Stones or Beetles (deliberate spelling errors there ;-) where there is likely to be many people sharing their files and see what happens when you choose the 3rd or 4th most shared songs to download. And in Tools/options/searching clear the box that says "show license warning" so that you can get access to songs that don't necessarily have a license available with the file.

OK, here is an example. I included a picture of the LimeWire application. I downloaded all three files. Note: before I downloaded item #2 it had 4 stars under the column Quality but changed to the icon you see in the attached picture after the download was completed.

First item: tried to play it using WMP. Got following message:
The file you are attempting to play has an extension that does not match the file format.

Second item: Unfortunantly WMP said it corrupted

Third item: Got same message as First item.

This problem with the extension not matching the file format is not a once in awhile problem but occurs approx. 95% of the time. If this is a problem at the host then there are alot of people out there that don't know how to make mp3 files. Kind of hard for me to believe that so many people have bad mp3 files. But maybe so.

Question: What do the numbers mean under the second column where you see the # sign and the little triangle (the 22,3, 36)?

Another question: What does it mean when you see Downloading from nn hosts? Is the file comming from nn different hosts or what. I don't understand that one.

Attached Thumbnails

 

The # column represents how many hosts were found with that file. In your example: 22 have first, 3 second, 36 third search result shown.

Downloading from nn hosts mean that's how many people you are downloading from. But keep in mind, you may not be downloading from a complete file in all cases, but partial file sharing where someone who is also downloading the same file but has downloaded a greater % than you shares back some of what they downloaded (this speeds up downlding speed for everyone.)

Without writing a novel here, it's best you look at some stickies on similar problems. Music files changing to zip or exe: some info _ / _ Trojan posing as an Audio file

mp3 Bit-Rates Versus File Sizes (click on link)

BTW one problem might be the mp3 codecs you have are out of date or else don't cater for all mp3 types such as mp3pro. It might be worth checking out this page: CODECs list for Movies/Audio/ Alternate players / Video help forums/ video-mp3 fixers

It's a well known Fact, and been mentioned a multitude of time on these Forums, that Files of the following size... 3462kbs and 5611kbs are Viruses.
Might want to do a Full Virus Scan with your AV Program ASAP.

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