why do some mp3 fiules constantly demand access to the internet?

I may be on the wrong site altogether (majorgeeks) for advice regarding mp3 audio files; if someone could refer me to a more appropriate site, I certainly would not hold that against them!rolleyes

But I have repeatedly googled this question in all sorts of variants without getting a single hit even remotely related to my question!

I use RealPlayer 10.5 as my default mp3 player, (under win xp sp3) and have vast numbers of different mp3 files from all sorts of sources -- some of them, when I click on them to play them, they play, with no problem; other mp3 files, when they start playing, I initially get a pop-up (usually 3 or 4 in a row) from my sunbelt-kerio personal firewall, telling me that RealPlayer wants to access the internet, so that I have to keep manually clicking on "deny access", in order to be able to continue with my other work on the computer. -- I assume that this is because there is some sort of "tag" (hyperlink?) included in the mp3 file, keying it to something posted on-line, (such as album cover-art for some music files); or some additional background information file (in the case of lectures), or whatever, etc.

I DON'T want to PERMANENTLY disable and deny RealPlayer access to the internet, because when I buy new CD's and save them to my harddrive, then I WANT to be able to automatically get the track-listings, titles, etc. from the internet, (and not have to manually type in every single file name!)

And as said, when playing back SOME mp3 files, they do not EVER demand any access to the internet, whereas others are EXTREMELY insistent and highly annoying, and do not accept "no" a mere four times in a row, but keep giving me new popups over and over again, dozens of times, (or so it seems!) demanding access over and over again, just in the course of a single track!

My question is: What is it that causes some mp3 files to do this, and others not to? And how can I edit or modify or crop the mp3 files in question so as to DISABLE this behaviour, and REMOVE these triggers? (these hyper-links?)

Thank you!

(Oh, and P.S.: please spare me all your unsolicited suggestions to instead switch to a different mp3 player, (of your choosing!): That is NOT the answer to my question!!! I ALREADY have at least half a dozen other mp3 players installed and to choose from, which I also use for various purposes, but for reasons of my own, I prefer RealPlayer 10.5 as my default setting for clicking on mp3 files!)

 

Realplayer is configured to access online for song information not stored in the file's metadata tag ie; title, artist or album names and art. If the file you play is missing any of the info, Realplayer will access an online database to retrieve the missing info. Check your preferences/options to see if this can be disabled if it bothers you.

 

-- Sorry 'bout that! I can't say specifically which sites, but I have noticed on MANY!! of them over the years (as well as elsewhere in life!), that advisors frequently prefer to try to tell other people to switch to doing what they themselves are most comfortable doing -- to have others adopt and adapt to their own preferences, rather than addressing the questioner's actual issues -- I'm glad if that assumption (and unfortunate rule of practice and experience elsewhere) do NOT apply to MajorGeeks!, and I sincerely APOLOGIZE! if I offended anyone; (I was simply trying to save myself, (the forum!), and potential responders needless unprofitable responses!

No, it never does.

Yes, and yes: I want to preserve my option to be able to successfully go online when I give RealPlayer the command to do so (to seek data, when I record a track), but not to be constantly badgered to do so, when I merely want to play a track I've already recorded!

Both of the above! (- i.e., many sites offer their own broadcasts (podcasts) for free, legitimate download!) Thanks for the tip: I'll try that. But I've checked them previously (upon download, and with regular computer-wide virus-scans), and nothing suspicious has ever come up. Hence, I'm pretty sure it's the following:

I've repeatedly tried, but I haven't discovered any way to disable this particular behaviour, without completely killing RealPlayer's having any possibility whatsoever to go on-line, even when I want it to -- which in the past, I then found extremely difficult to reverse, over-ride, or undo again, when I specifically needed it to do so!

I'd like to know how to put dummy markers -- especially in a field for album art, which I have no need of! (file-bloat!) into the offending files, which would then "fool" RealPlayer into thinking that nothing is missing!

But as said, MANY of my mp3 files definitely do NOT! include ANY of that data in their metadata tag, and yet those files are the ones which never try to go online to retrieve it! So I'm still trying to find out how to disable or remove that specific "trigger"´in the offending files!

But thanks again for everybody's input so far!

Oh, and P.S.: Sorry for the ham-fingered typo, "fiules", in the original title!

 

P.P.S. Sorry, I apparently don't know how to correctly use the "quote" feature here, in order to post only partial quotes -- I'd thought cutting and pasting the relevant portions and bracketing them within "[QUOTE" and "QUOTE]" was sufficient...