I recently had to overhaul my computer to remove some malicious viruses that were in it. I had around 300 songs downloaded on a file sharing network, and now all the songs sound as if they are in a trashcan. The background music is all you hear, seldom are the lyrics clear. When I got my computer fixed the software engineer reinstalled windows but did not format it, which allowed me to keep all my documents, songs, programs, etc. Also the new windows service pack 2 was installed. I do not know if this is relevant but it could help. I have deduced the problem is NOT with my speakers, by burning the files to a CD and then listening to it... The problem remains with the songs. Also it is not the internal player of the file sharing network, because I dowloaded a complete new program and dowloaded a sample file only to have the same result. PLEASE GOD HELP ME!

Just checking something - Did you say you burnt the files to CD and they still sounded poor in a stereo, not on your PC? I seriously doubt a virus or a windows reinstall would change the audio quality of some MP3's.

If you definitely believe it is the MP3's, go to www.download.com and search for some sound editors. I can't recommend one, but you should be able to find out on there.

One thing that might be worth checking and relaying to us is the audio quality. Now these instructions are for recent Windows versions, let me know if these don't work for your PC. Open up Windows Explorer and browse to where the MP3's are. Right click on one and choose properties. Click on the summary tab. If there is an advanced button - click it. Now you will see all the properties for the MP3 you are looking at. Scroll to the bottom and down to the audio section. What are the bit rate, no. of channels and sampling rate?

Are they MP3 or some other format? If they aren't MP3 you may need a proper codec to listen to them.