I've ripped a lot of CDs onto my computer with no problems. Lately,
though, a lot of them are getting messed up.
Example: I try to play a song off of my Cowboy Bebop OST and instead
of being the correct song, I get ZZ Top. It seems that hundreds of my
songs are like this. Some are completely the wrong song, while others
switch between the correct song and the wrong one.
A lot of the CDs that I've uploaded on to here I no longer own, and
I'd really like to not have lost the songs. So, my question is, what
is happening to my songs and is there anything I can do to fix it?

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Clarification of Question by babaloulou-ga on 30 Aug 2004 22:35 PDT

An additional question, if it could be answered along with this one (I
believe its related).

I've got entire folders of music that are becoming corrupt. They get
fixed by Chkdsk on restart, but I don't know what's corrupting them...
Ideas?

Hi there-

It sounds like your MP3 files are becoming corrupt, and this might be
caused by a number of things.  If the CD you are transferring files
from is scratched or dusty, there's a good chance that the files might
also become corrupted.  Also, if you are using peer-to-peer agents
like Kazaa, you might be downloading files that are already currupt.

But because this seems to have only begun happening recently, your
hard drive might be suspect.  An early sign of hard drive failure is
frequent scandisk activity.  The average life of a hard drive 2-3
years, so if it's getting up there in age, consider purchasing a new
one.  If you can, start backing up all of your critical files for good
measure.

Make sure your anti-virus software is updated and scanning frequently.
 There is a small chance that a virus is corrupting your MP3s.  If you
don't have anti-virus software, you can download a free progam at
http://www.grisoft.com.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to fix your corrupted MP3 files. 
Luckily, you can download the corrupted MP3s off of a P2P agent like
Kazaa legally, so long as you purchased the CDs you ripped the files
off of.

If you are experiencing that a lot of the files you are downloading
are corrupt, you might consider getting a free program called MP3
Shield, available at http://www.mp3shield.com/.  This program checks
if MP3s are corrupt while you are downloading them.  It works with
Kazaa Media Desktop.

I hope this information is of help.

Yours is a particularly egregious example of the so-called "Bop-Top
Virus", most typically exemplified when songs by Cowboy Be-Bop are
rendered as though they were songs by ZZ Top. Some other known
variants of this virus are the "Sting-Bling" (which occurs when
pretentious stars wear too much jewelry), "Dion-Peon" (in which
ex-doo-wop stars become poverty-stricken), and, most heartbreaking of
all, the "Ho-Lo" (which occurs when aging Hawaiian singers take up
with Latina's 1/3 their age).

The good news is that neither you nor your cpu need ever worry about
contracting this virus if you engage in what Jerry Falwll has called
"right listening".  Foe example, there is literally no chance of
contracting any of these viruses if you confine yourself listening to
the collected works of Bobby Vinton or Pat Boone. Fill your life with
"Blue Velvet" and "Friendly Persuasiion", and know the bliss of one
whose life shines with both health and boredom.

adhall-ga:
:\ The harddrive is under a year old. I don't think its to blame.

I have Norton's Antivirus and it scans about once every two weeks.
Also, I just ran a full Tauscan (for trojans) and it came up clean.

anonoboy-ga:
Oh noes, Bop-Top! :0