I just saw that I didn't read the original post correctly. I thought brocher meant MP3 recording with WMP. My apologies for any confusion this may have lead to.
Back to physic51's post. From the looks of it, it only updates the Windows Media Formats (like .wma and .wmv) and not MP3 formats.
To get back to the original question: I don't know how to install the MP3 codec manually. It would sure help us to let us know what version of WMP you are using. If you are (planning to) using the BETA version of Windows Media Player 9 ('Corona'), you might want to try to (re)install the package. The installer than can see what file is missing or damaged and replaced it with a working one. The official BETA can be found on
WindowsMedia.com or other leaked BETA's may be found or various other sites. Search the forums and frontpage news for sites.
If you are using the standard version of Windows Media Player 8 ('XP'), than you can upgrade to WMP9 to update all files, or you can make the Windows Media Player visible in the Remove Windows Apps section of Add/Remove Programs.
To do this, you must go to the following folder:
C:\Windows\Inf
From there rightclick the wmp.inf file and choose Install. It now installs the files and if a file is missing, point to your Windows XP CD-ROM.
If that doesn't work, there is a more drastic method. I must warn that this is the second most drastic way (after formatting and starting all over) to replace the files. Perform the following instructions only when you have tried all other options and when you are absolutely sure what your are doing!
To perform a system file check, do the following:
Boot your computer using the Windows XP CD-ROM. Choose the repair option in one of the next screens and follow the intructions. After you came in the Repairconsole, type in the following command:
sfc /scannow
It now checks *
all* system files, including, but not limited to, files used by Windows Media Player 8. When it finds a missing or bad file, it replaces the file with the one on the CD-ROM, so some fileupdates might be lost. This may take a while, so fetch a cup of coffee and watch the news or sump
.
Hope this helps, 'cause if it don't, blame the dog
!