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[lalittle]

Shoutcast "Tune In" links are not working for me when opening the pls files directly.  If I "Save" the pls file to the desktop and THEN "open" it, it plays fine.  If I select "open" directly from the initial dialog box, however, MC opens, but nothing happens.  I usually have the "always ask" box UNchecked so that the "Tune In" links just start playing, but this no longer works since MC only plays the .pls files if I "Save/Open" and not if I just "Open."

In my troubleshooting, I found that this issue seems directly related to ZoneAlarm.  By disabling ZA's "Privacy" settings, the "Tune In" links work correctly.  Normally, I would assume that this is therefore a ZA issue.  However, this ZA and MC have always worked fine on this system, and the problem suddenely showed up when I upgraded to MC 11.1.  Before this, both MC10 and MC11.0 worked fine with the Shoutcast "Tune In" links -- simply clicking on a link would cause MC to open and start playing the stream.  Since installing 11.1, however, it just doesn't work -- I have to "Save" the pls file first and THEN open it in order for it to work, OR I have to disable the ZA Privacy settings, which was NOT necessary before and is also NOT necessary with another system.

I know this may seem more like a ZA question, but I've tried dozens of various uninstall/reinstall procedures with both MC and ZA, and it still doesn't work.  I even tried reverting to MC10 and MC11.0, but it still won't work correctly.  I'm simply out of ideas, so any help I could get would be appreciated.  There must be SOMETHING else I could do to get this working other than completely reformatting and reinstalling Windows, but I'm just stumped at this point.

Thanks for any help with this,

Larry

[JohnT]

If I read correctly, you have another system on which you run both ZoneAlarm and MC11.1 and the Shoutcast links play ok. If that is correct, compare the versions and settings of ZA on the two systems.
If MC10/11 used to work and now doing a complete uninstall of 11.1 and installing 10 or 11 doesn't fix the problem, I'd say it must be something to do with ZA updating itself and making some changes to how it works, or changed settings within ZA.

[jgreen]

Try disabling ad blocking within the privacy settings and leaving the other settings active.  it's possible that ZA is reading the dialogue box as a pop-up ad.

Also, go into program control and look at settings for MC.  This seems to require level 3 (Super Trusted), in order to work with other programs and pass data (shoutcast links) back and forth.

FWIW, once fully configured, ZA conflicts less than Norton/Symantec, IMO.

[lalittle]

If I read correctly, you have another system on which you run both ZoneAlarm and MC11.1 and the Shoutcast links play ok.

Correct.

If that is correct, compare the versions and settings of ZA on the two systems.

Everything is the same.

If MC10/11 used to work and now doing a complete uninstall of 11.1 and installing 10 or 11 doesn't fix the problem, I'd say it must be something to do with ZA updating itself and making some changes to how it works, or changed settings within ZA.

ZA doesn't just update by itself -- I have it set to only update manually, and I made no changes to it.  The ONLY change was made to MC.

I had a similar issue a while back when both MC10 and MC11.0 were installed on this system (which was okay to do according to the instructions.)  At that time, the problem was due to MC10 and MC11 fighting over the file association.  I eventually got it to work, however, by making sure to UNcheck the "Audio Playlist" association in MC10 and re-checking it in MC11.  Everything worked again at that point -- right up until I uninstalled both MC10 and MC11 and installed MC11.1.  Ever since then, I have been getting this issue.

Thanks again,

Larry

[lalittle]

Try disabling ad blocking within the privacy settings and leaving the other settings active.  it's possible that ZA is reading the dialogue box as a pop-up ad.

The odd thing, however, is that this is NOT necessary on the other systems.  It's only on THIS system that teh Privacy settings are effecting the way the "Tune In" links open.

Also, go into program control and look at settings for MC.  This seems to require level 3 (Super Trusted), in order to work with other programs and pass data (shoutcast links) back and forth.

I've tried giving MC full permisssion, AND I've compared the settings on the two systems.  It works on one system but not the other.

Thanks again,

Larry

[jgreen]

FWIW, did you copy the setting from one and restore it to the other?  This is the only way I know of to be sure settings are identical.  Otherwise, what you report makes total sense, IMO.  ZA can be an infuriating thing to set up, since any slight variance in surfing habits can result in a slightly different shave to the settings, with unexpected results.  I say, forget trying to get both machines in sync, and config the second one to accept MC, warts and all.  Life is too short!

[lalittle]

FWIW, did you copy the setting from one and restore it to the other?

This would be too dangerous given the differences between software on the two systems.  It's one thing to backup and restore the settings on the same system, but it's not a good idea to use one system's settings on another system.

That aside, it's important to note three points here:

1) On the other system, it works with the DEFAULT ZA settings.  I don't have to change anything to get it to work -- it just works by default.

2) On the other system, I can turn the Privacy settings all the way to HIGH and it STILL works -- i.e. the Privacy settings do NOT effect the behavior on the other system.

3) Until I installed 11.1, it worked on THIS system as well, with no special settings needed, and there were NO changes made to ZA during this period.


At this point, it would appear that the MC installations/uninstallations somehow led to this issue.  The first sign of "potential" problems was when I had both MC 10 and 11.0 on the system at the same time.  Even though I solved that particular issue, it would appear that something else happened.  The only difference between the system that works and the one that doesn't is the fact that at one time, both 10 and 11 were installed on the system that exhibits the issue.  These were both uinstalled before installing 11.1, whereas on the system that does NOT exhibit this issue, 11.1 was installed on top of 10.

Thanks again,

Larry

[lalittle]

I finally SOLVED this issue.  It turned out I had a corrupt Temporary Internet Files "index.dat" file.  I was pointed in this direction due to the issues I was ALSO having with a plugin not installing on this system.  These two issues made me start looking into my temp internet files as a source of the problem, which led me to the solution on the Microsoft website.

To solve this, I logged on as a different (temporary) user, then opened a command prompt window and navigated to C:\Documents and Settings\my normal username\Temporary Internet Files\Content.ie5.  I then deleted the index.dat file with the command "del index.dat," and rebooted.  After this, the Tune In links started working, and the plugin installed normally as well.

Note that the reason you need to log on as a different user is that the CURRENT user's index.dat file will be locked (i.e. there is a different index.dat file for each user.)  You therefore need to log on as a different user in order to delete the index.dat file in your "normal" username folder.

Larry

[glynor]

Wow.  Good work on the self-investigation there.  It's always so gratifying when you figure out something irritating like that...