This is more of an advisory for multimedia player programmers.

I have wrtten a multi format player app to play url content from the net which uses the v11 wmp.dll as one of the player plugins. The program worked fine but lately crashed anytime I tried to play a file from any url (not local on my hdd). The standalone wmp itself did not have this problem. I could run any wmp file from the net with no problem but not when using the plugin within VB. I know that MS just had an update to block a security flaw in the player so I suspected that it was causing problems. I checked the crash debug tracer log and found a reference to the Morgan Stream switcher ((a freeware Directshow filter which allows you to switch on the fly between several audio streams ). I removed it from my system and sure enough the wmp.dll now works flawlessly.

Hope this helps someone else who hits this bug. I will send a note to the author of the plugin. It may no longer be updated since I think, it was originally designed to work with version 9 of MS wmp.