I can successfully import a .wav file, but any .mp3 file just gives static. What am I missing?

Welcome to the forum.
Do the mp3s play through Windows Media Player or other media players without problems?

Thanks for replying. Yes, all of my mp3 files (thousands of them) play through windows media player, ipods, ipads, etc. I can load and edit them in audio/video editing programs (e.g., Audacity, Adobe Premiere). I wanted to get into a more sophisticated audio editing solution, trying out SONAR LE 8.5 (which came with the Samson Studio GT Pro package), planning to upgrade soon. But if I can't even load a simple mp3 file into SONAR, it's a little disconcerting to say the least. I tried loading through the menus (File > Import > Audio) and via drag-n-drop, but get static every time (after the importing audio stream process). The .wav files provided with the software, any my own .wav files, work fine. The Windows 7 Professional, Service Pack 1, 64-bit.

Do the mp3s play through Windows Media Player or other media players without problems?

Yes, see above. All my MP3s play fine elsewhere, just not in this software. Very frustrating.

Well, perhaps this defect was just a way to motivate upgrades. $79 later, I installed SONAR X2 Essential and the MP3 problem is solved. Guess I'll be moving to another forum. :)

That is totally strange. I don't have any problems with importing MP3 and I'm still using Sonar 4 LE. Glad to see it solved your problems though.

so when they are imported or dropped in.....can you see the wave picture OK in the track and does it show anything to be in it? 

even though they are MP3's they should still show up looking like waves..... or do you see a flat line in the track?  be sure the project NOW TIME is set to the start. 





I use MP3's interchangeably in my projects especially when I am collaborating with someone across the internet...they send me the MP3 in an email and I work from that.... I've never had problems.....

hope that helps.

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Every MP3 I dropped into SONAR 8.5 LE showed a flat line. SONAR clearly did not extract the digital information from any of the files, but appeared to be processing it while the file was being imported. Different results following the same procedure in X2 Essential. Now the MP3s all import successfully. I assume it cause is something weird in my specific PC system (which is nothing special); otherwise, I'm sure this would have been reported by many people much earlier. I debated returning the product which incuded this bundled software, but instead went with the upgrade, so problem solved.
 
Interesting situation, because the SONAR X2 Essential upgrade installation did not delete my SONAR 8.5 LE installation. I can still run both. And the X2, as I said, works fine with MP3s, but the 8.5 LE continues to load only static.