unable to open file error=bass-error-unknown

[garlez]

i have just downloaded music bee and get this message on all new tracks.is there a solution

[phred]

Try adding MusicBee.exe, bass.dll, and MusicBeeBass.dll to your security app's whitelist.

[defeatedcoot]

I have tried almost all possible fixes and this error pops up. The strange thing is that all my previous songs work but when I download new ones, they don't want to open. Foobar will play it, VLC will play it, but not Musicbee. I added the possible files to my security app. I deleted the app and started from scratch. Nothing pops up in the Musicbee error log.

I'm running Musicbee version: 3.5.8568

[Zak]

This error usually means MusicBee can't access the hardware you have selected to play through.
Check your settings here and make sure you have selected a valid device:

Edit > Edit Preferences > Player > Audio Player

And maybe also the Sound settings in the Windows control panel to make sure there's nothing weird going on there, like a different program having exclusive WASAPI control of your device.

[threap]

(First, apologies for adding to an old thread - I am seeing this issue too, but I'm not sure what the etiquette is around here. I'm happy to start a new thread if that's preferred.)

I have Musicbee 3.5.8698 on two PCs. One is Windows 10 22H2, and plays all my tracks. I've never found anything in my collection that it won't play.

The other PC is Windows 11 (also 22H2, albeit of that OS), and plays most of my tracks - there's some that it barfs at with this "BASS_ERROR_UNKNOWN", and this page is the most "relevant" that came up when I searched for help on the error.

Screenshot here. Don't laugh at my eclectic taste in music 

To forestall the obvious questions: yes, I've done a clean install of the application, and I've whitelisted the various files in Windows Defender (and have actually turned off realtime scanning anyway). I've also tried changing the output device - whether WASAPI/Exclusive, or DirectSound, makes no difference.

What's weird is that there's no pattern to the tracks that won't play. The ones that won't play all seem to be .m4a AAC tracks (44100Hz, 32bits per sample, according to VLC, which by the way plays them perfectly)... but I have plenty of other tracks of the same type that play perfectly in Musicbee.

My collection is on my Linux NAS; thinking that it might be a file permissions/access issue, I've tried copying the problem files to the Desktop, and Musicbee still won't play them from there either.

The Musicbee error log shows nothing... literally, it remains empty after failing to play a file.
One oddity, that might be significant, is that when I've removed the tracks from my MB library and re-added them, all their embedded metadata shows up in the library - ID3 tags, album cover art, etc - except for the track duration, which remains blank. If I re-add a "working" track in the same fashion, the duration is immediately displayed, as expected. Could MB be having trouble reading the headers on these tracks? As I said, VLC plays them perfectly, and they've been created using exactly the same encoder as the working tracks, so I don't think they're corrupted in any way.

This is a little frustrating, to put it mildly. What can I do to help diagnose and debug this issue? I'm happy to provide more detailed information about my computer configurations if needed.

[Steven]

search the forum for: bass_aac.dll

[threap]

Thanks for the amazingly fast response, Steven. I definitely appreciate it (and by the way, a colossal THANK YOU for Musicbee and your hard work. I don't think you get enough recognition.)

Following your advice I tracked down the forum post by Sveakul that linked to the latest bass_aac.dll at un4seen.com (2.4.6.0 at time of writing). I installed the 32-bit version to the MB root directory (and unblocked it in Windows Explorer -> File Properties).

Sad to say though, my problem remains - the files that didn't play before, still don't work.
As I said - these are not high bitrate, and they are as far as I can tell identical in codec terms to files that do play correctly in MB.

Hmm! Puzzling. Your solution made perfect sense and should have worked.

[sveakul]

First, backup the W11 MB installation.  Then, copy ALL the bass* files from the MusicBee directory on the W10 machine, which you said plays all the files just fine, into the W11 MusicBee folder, letting the existing bass* files there be overwritten.

Do the files play now?  If not, post a link to an upload of one that won't play, so we can take a look at it.  BTW, I am assuming you are NOT using the "Windows Store" version of MB.

[threap]

Thanks Sveakul! Doing that right now. And you're correct, this is not the Windows Store version. If downloading .ZIP files direct from the author's site and unpacking them was good enough for my grandpappy, darn it, it's good enough for me  

(Seriously though, I have an irrational aversion to application stores, and avoid them wherever possible.)

I'll post an update shortly once I've transplanted the bass* files.

UPDATE: OK, did that. All the bass* files were identical between the installations, with the exception of bassdsd.dll and basswasapi.dll, which were older on Windows 10. Regardless, I copied them all, just in case one was corrupted.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.
I've done a little more investigating.

1) if I load a "bad" file (remember - "bad" only as far as MusicBee on my Win11 machine is concerned. MB on my Win10 PC, and VLC on both, will happily play it) into Audacity and re-export it as AAC via FFMpeg, MB/Win11 will then play the re-encoded file. This suggests that there's something in the encoding of the files that MB/11 doesn't like. At this point I'd say "oh, it was corrupted files" and apologize for wasting everyones' time, but... why is MB on Windows 10 happy to play the files?

(By the way, I feel that this issue is becoming a time-sink for people whose time is far more valuable than mine - Sveakul, Steven - so, I am happy to just re-encode the dozen or so "bad" files if it comes to it. If we want to continue digging and find out why one instance of MB chokes on a file that another instance is happy with, I'm happy to co-operate and do whatever I can.)

2) renaming the "bad" file to .MP3 didn't work either. Yes, I know that was on the face of it irrational, but I wondered... "what if these aren't actually M4A/AAC files after all?". VLC says they are, and MB says they are, so (shrug)...

3) I'm going to copy my "good" Win10 installation of MB across to a couple of other PCs - I have several spare - to see if the issue is specific to Windows 11 (as we have a sample size of 1, the whole "windows 10 vs windows 11" might be a red herring), or this particular PC.

As a next step, what's the best way to get one of the "bad" files to you, Sveakul?

Thank you both for the time & effort you've put into this. Even if you do nothing more than what you've already done, then I am still very grateful.

[boroda]

As a next step, what's the best way to get one of the "bad" files to you, Sveakul?

i'm not Sveakul, but just upload one of problem files to file sharing service or your own cloud drive: mediafire.com, google drive, one drive, etc.
then post the link to the file here.

[threap]

Everyone - Steven, Sveakul, Boroda - thank you for your help on this, but I've decided it's easier all round to just re-encode the problematic tracks.

Firstly, having installed MB on a second Windows 11 PC, the behavior occurs there too. So my tally is: Windows 10 + MB: works with all tracks. Windows 11 + MB on two different systems: issues playing some.

Having flicked randomly through my entire 6100+ track collection, I can only find a handful that exhibit this problem. They're all .M4A AAC encoded tracks; however, I have several other tracks of the same type and source that work fine, so maybe it's just an issue with the encoder.

The main obstacle for me, in trying to debug this further, is that I'm loathe to upload a copyrighted music track to a file-share service and, technically, risk legal troubles for all concerned. I tried finding CC/public domain tracks that show the same behaviour, but nope, they all work fine, wouldn't you know it

If you think that this issue merits further digging regardless - for example, if more people see it - I'm still happy to help, but for now, please don't let me take up any more of your valuable time.

Thanks again. All your help and suggestions are really, really appreciated.
And now I'm heading over to the Wishlist thread, to see if my one minor headache with the MB user interface has already been raised 

[defeatedcoot]

@zak

This error usually means MusicBee can't access the hardware you have selected to play through.
Check your settings here and make sure you have selected a valid device:

Edit > Edit Preferences > Player > Audio Player

And maybe also the Sound settings in the Windows control panel to make sure there's nothing weird going on there, like a different program having exclusive WASAPI control of your device.

Sorry, I didn't realize you had replied to me until now lol. But the issue is still there. As someone else had explained, when I was on my W10 system, when I downloaded songs on there, it seemed to work fine, but since I'm on W11 now, when I download a song, it doesn't play. It works fine on foobar, and maybe even vlc.

[defeatedcoot]

This error usually means MusicBee can't access the hardware you have selected to play through.
Check your settings here and make sure you have selected a valid device:

Edit > Edit Preferences > Player > Audio Player

And maybe also the Sound settings in the Windows control panel to make sure there's nothing weird going on there, like a different program having exclusive WASAPI control of your device.

I can share a screenshot of what I have in my musicbee audio player, and my sound control panel if it would help more.

[sveakul]

when I downloaded songs on there, it seemed to work fine, but since I'm on W11 now, when I download a song, it doesn't play.

Where are you downloading these songs from?  Please upload one somewhere so we can take a look at it.  Also, what exactly do you mean by "doesn't play"--what does MusicBee do?  How are you trying to play it with MusicBee--did you make it your default audio player or what?

[defeatedcoot]

when I downloaded songs on there, it seemed to work fine, but since I'm on W11 now, when I download a song, it doesn't play.

Where are you downloading these songs from?  Please upload one somewhere so we can take a look at it.  Also, what exactly do you mean by "doesn't play"--what does MusicBee do?  How are you trying to play it with MusicBee--did you make it your default audio player or what?

Using SpotDL to download songs, that's how I've always done it, and yes I made Musicbee as my default audio player. And by "doesn't play" I mean that it pops up with the same error message. On Foobar I am able to play these exact same songs. Not sure why. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1U-3qvoXAeYpiwZ_hNhjUHKPQMeoC9jGp?usp=sharing