why do some files not work?
 

Hi there, I'm a new LimeWire user, I have LimeWire 5. I have downloaded several videos on LW, some of them play and some of them don't. Why is that? Is there a trick to getting some of them to play? The ones that do play will play in Windows Media Player. Do I need another media player for the others? Or does the fact that they won't play just mean the files are not good or corrupt and should be deleted? Thanks for any advice you can give. :wai:

It's a codec issue. We normally recommend using VLC as it has all the codecs built-in so no need to search around for particular codecs to play particularly formatted videos. VLC - (click on link) _ (choose nearest mirror site) :) VLC can also play almost all audio formats you will come across. ;)

Sweet, I will try that. One more question - why does it say it will take some things hours to download and others only minutes? Is it the speed of the other computer's connection? I've been abandoning the multi-hour downloads, seems too long to wait. Thank you! :)

Yes. You are downloading from others like yourself who are sharing those files. They might be dial up users or if they have a fast connection, their bandwidth might be used for other uploads also & you only get a small share. Best if you can find multiple hosts to download from where possible. Right-clicking the search tab & choose Get More Results can help find more in many cases. :)

Example yesterday I downloaded three songs, each took about 10 seconds. Whereas another suggested it was going to take several hours lol .. depends on one's patience & how much one wants it. If it's a rarely shared file then patience is needed. :)

Keep in mind LW's search horizon is limited. It cannot search the entire network. If it could, each search would take hours to finish. :D So re-searching & browsing others with similar files can often help reach further. People come & go frequently on the gnutella network.

Very good, thanks so much for the info. Also, when you were talking about the link to VLC, you mentioned choosing the "nearest mirror site." I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm not sure what that means. Can you enlighten me? Thanks so much. :)

A mirror site is a site that also has the same download file. Many places do this to save load on their servers because their servers cannot cope with the traffic & bandwidth needed for constant downloading of their software. Thus, sites around the world will share the same file that can be downloaded from. It's suggested to choose the nearest one to where you live so it will be faster, however it's not so important. I downloaded from France which is on opposite side of world from me. lol :D

Sweet! Thanks so much for the info! I'll probably have more questions later. :laugh_2: