Winamp Problem by bxaimc at 11:46 AM EST on February 22, 2008
Everytime i start up winamp with any song, there's like a delay to the program. The song plays while the delay but the entire program is frozen until the song reaches up to like 10 secs of play time. Also, everytime i push the play button on winamp, it freezes up like before and has a delay.
It sounds to me like you have a low-end machine. That is, when I experience a problem similar to yours, it's because Winamp is filling the buffer. This can take quite a bit of CPU, depending on the format in question. What are the specifications for your PC (CPU, RAM, OS, etc.)? What Winamp plugin are you trying to use? 64th Note (USFs), in_cube, Highly Whatever (for 2SFs) or something else? Last, check your Winamp settings. What output plugin are you using, and what is the prebuffer set at (CTRL+P to access the configuration menu of Winamp, in case you didn't know)? If you're using the waveOut plugin, then the buffer settings are right then when you access that plugin's settings. If you're using the Direct Sound (as most people will) output plugin, then the buffer settings are under the 2nd tab (labeled "Buffer"). Check those settings. You may want to lower them. Or not. If you do have a low-end machine, then you might want a higher buffer, to prevent the songs from "skipping" (that is, they go slow, get "clicky" and generally sound pretty bad).
Of course, if your problem is a buffer issue (which is what it sounds like to me), then decreasing the buffer settings will help. But if it is indeed a buffer issue, and you're experiencing 10 seconds of no response time, then your machine might be slow enough that it benefits from the long buffer. If this is the case, then you just have to learn to live with the slow response.
Anyway, hopefully that helped. Play around with the settings, and see what you think fits best for your system. When I'm on really low-end machines, I set the buffer really high. This way, it helps prevent the "skipping" I mentioned, since the increased buffer provides a cushion of play-time for the CPU to catch up. Usually, this would be a 400-500 mhz machine (or lower) that I'd have a high buffer on. On my PC (2 ghz), I have about 3-7 seconds for my buffer. This is because many of my songs are in archives (ZIP, RAR, 7z, etc), and it takes a little longer to load them as a result. To reduce the noticeably of that load time, I increase the "buffer on track change" so that it starts extracting the songs before it actually gets to them.
Good luck on that. Hope you get it figured out. Mouser X over and out.
fixed by bxaimc at 5:32 PM EST on February 22, 2008
Its back to normal now. I just restored my computer and i guess that did the trick.