Your comments are noted, and appreciated!
We are diagnosing these problems right now. We are finding a few "minor" gremlins in how we defined fields in the Songs.mdb that may have some impact.
Also... we are using the older Microsoft Access 97 DB Manager, which MAY be a growing problem, or the root cause, for your skipping, etc. When you think about the SLOOOOOOOW computers Hoster flawlessly runs on with Win XP, and compare the LIGHT SPEED processors you probably have today, there is no logical reason why Hoster won't work without dropping audio.
We have our audio player and CDG renderer player set to HIGHER thread priority than Hoster, which SHOULD prevent a DB search from interrupting audio or lyrics. So much for these "advanced" windows we are stuck with!
Windows Vista and Windows 7 s*** and we continually... CONTINUALLY are finding code sections that have worked for years that now malfunction on these OS's. It's frustrating to try and shoot at this moving target.
In the past week, we have discovered that by using DirectSound (Microsoft's method to access the audio hardware), our Microstudio, Songverter and Hoster's "Build Database" won't open and use MP3 songs under Windows 7 64-bit. Runs FINE under Windows 7 32-bit. ANd what is really confusing is we have an "older" Win 7 64-bit Laptop (quite powerful) that WON'T process MP3's as stated, and then a brand new LC Laptop we just received and it WILL process MP3's. Now that was an interesting find. So what's wrong with our Hoster code that performs FINE on one Win7, and NOT on another?
Oh yes, Keyrite, Vogone, and Hoster's "Index HD Files" screen open and use MP3's fine on Win7 64-bit.
Just got a notice from engineering they have now bypassed Windows' DirectSound for audio and all seems to be working. You'll see a new Microstudio and Songverter soon, and Hoster 5.03 is well under way, now including this "fix".