Has this issue been resloved yet?
So far a fairly thorough trawl of the web has only uncovered this exact
thread on every forum imaginable.

I have the same problem.
I am running a Dell E520 with Vista Business.
I have WMP11 installed.
Some files will not play and I get the exact same error message as the OP.

The files are stored on another PC and I access them via our home LAN.
I can access them from another PC (Dell 8400 running XP SP2) and they play
perfectly.

It's not ALL MP3s - just a few - and usually the ones I *really* want to play!

Installing iTunes is NOT a solution but a pathetic cop out! (*not* directed
at the OP)

Can someone please find a sloution?


"Paulo Gloria" wrote:

Like other people, I have a problem with WMP11. I'm using Vista Home Premium.
My WMP11 can not play some MP3 files, showing the message "Windows Media
Player cannot play the file (or cannot play either the audio or video portion
of the file) because the Microsoft MPEG-1 (50) codec is not installed on your
computer."
Altough I followed the help and went to the Pluggins site, Microsoft does
not have the codec, having searched for it. Strangely, WMP11 plays other MP3
files. The very same files that does not play in Vista WMP11 plays in WMP11
for XP and and WMP9, which proves that the file is not corrupt.
I saw some questions posted in foruns by some people about trhe same problem.
How can this be solved ? Installing iTunes ?