Online Music Downloads Poor Sound Quality

[kerri]

I have Windows XP with Windows Media PLayer 9, when I try
to downoad songs from the BestBuy or Walmart sites, the
sound quality is terrible.

Yet my own CDs and other sounds on the computer are fine.

Help! What should I adjust to repair this digital
download sound problem?

Thank you,
Kerri

 

[b]

what bit rate are the downloads? most i have seen are 128
Kbs, and have been great, but i have never used best buy
or walmart, i almost exclusively use napster (napster
uses 128kbs and the quality is excellent). also are you
using dial up or broadband internet service... this can
make a difference. you may have to adjust your buffer
settings (in IE and WMP) to maximize streaming... high
buffer settings will help filter out errors, but your
system performance will be slow while downloading (and it
would be best if you don't run any other apps while
downloading... this is especially true to dial up service
connections).