iBook download problems

[Blue Riff]

Hi There,

I'm a new subscriber to Limewire. I have a clamshell iBook (running system OS9.2.2, with 256megs RAM, 300 Mhz). I've installed everything ok, a breeze actually, I was impressed by how well it all worked, until that is, I started to download my first music files. All goes well throughout the process, it downloads, verifies, and gives me a green tick to say it's finished. But when I click on the file to play it - nothing happens, zilch - it must be corrupt or something. Out of the ten or so files I have tried so far only about 3 have downloaded ok. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong.
By the way I have an ADSL connection running at 1/2 meg. Any clues would be greatly appreciated, it's so frustrating to see all the music there and not be able to use it. Thanks.

[murasame]

Open LW, go to it's Preferences, click Saving and look at the place where the files that you download are saved.
In the Finder, browse to that place (it should be named Shared) and try playing one of the files like that.
Personal suggestion: always play the files like that, using a separate, dedicated application (
Quicktime, iTunes, what have you) and let LW do what it does best.

[Blue Riff]

Thanks for your suggestions. I've tried those and still my download success rate is around 5- 10%. Most of the time it goes through the whole process fine but leaves a blank icon in my shared folder that is totally unplayable by iTunes or any mp3 player. Very frustrating now. Surely I'm not the only 300Mhz - 256ram - G3 iBook out here.......

[Lord of the Rings]

Do a search on the forum for the word blank or document & you'll find some solutions or suggestions at least. They can be fixed. There was an iTunes utility (no longer made) which allowed you to drag & drop any mp3 onto it & it would change the file's icon & default app to open it to iTunes. You can have it if you want it. I spend too much time in osx nowadays.

I forgot to mention, they other way is (in the short term) to drag & drop those files onto iTunes. That works!

[murasame]

I remember another user having the same problem and the solution they found was to shorten the filename: it would seem that the filename was too long and the extension got truncated.
I'm surprised LOTR didn't suggest the Mac Swiss knife (or something to that effect). Since I don't use that app at all (I don't even have it and I only reinstalled Classic on my Mac to play Diablo 2 so... not much of a Classic user) we'll wait for LOTR (or someone else with experience with that app.

[Lord of the Rings]

Yes Mac Army Knife will do the job. You'd choose the File Attribute Editor, drag & drop your file into this program window. Then change the type & creator. Type should be MPG3 & for the Creator for iTunes it should be Hook. Press Update.

Other fixes can be seen here (see link to Stief's suggestion!!!): http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=29223

This is fine for mp3's. But for other types of files, you'll need to drag & drop healthy files into Mac Army Knife to see what creator & file-type they should be & use those. eg: for Sit files: Creator would be SIT! & type will vary depend on version of StuffIt: eg: sit4 or 5 or the newer SITX for that type of sit only. Type version for SIT files is not too important (except for sitx.)

More on cannot open anything (MacArmy Knife settings - click on link)

[Blue Riff]

My Lord you sure are worthy of your title! I downloaded a copy of Mac Army Knife and followed your instructions to the letter. It worked perfectly - every download now plays after they have been through the software. Many thanks to you and others for all your help.
One last small question. My daughter has a PC, do I have to change the Creator and File Type entries ('MPG3' and 'Hook') for her to play them on her PC? Thanks again!

[murasame]

Originally posted by Blue Riff
My Lord you sure are worthy of your title!

Yup, and:

Originally posted by Blue Riff
One last small question. My daughter has a PC, do I have to change the Creator and File Type entries ('MPG3' and 'Hook') for her to play them on her PC? Thanks again!

Just try playinng them directly. They should work without any further fiddling.