noise with Ess maestro on laptop

Ive got this strange thing, when i play a regular cd with the program that automatically comes with win 98 SE ( the cd player) then my sound is fine, but if i try to open these wav files with for instance winamp 3 or the last media player from microsoft.com the sound gets all funny...
( and its not only wiith regular cd's its also wit mp3's with movies etc)

So it isnt the soundcard wich is sensitive for noise coming from the hard drive or video card (coz it works fine one way but in another way it doesnt).
So im thinking this has something to do with software or whatever....
If anyone ever had the same or knows something i can try , suggestions are always welcome.

Thx iin advance.

is it like a static noise? Perhaps they use more resources than the cd player in 98? Check ram usage with one against the others.

im really feeling like an idiiot now, ive been searching to solve iit for a week by now, and i just downloaded winamp lite and guess what.... no noise along my pretty music... now i only need a good video player (that doesnt gives noise -unlike that media player from microsoft)
::edit::
<<Check ram usage with one against the others.

I personally dont think it has soemthing to do with ram usage becoz when im playing games like need for speed, unreal, counterstrike or whatever my sound is fine..

>>im really feeling like an idiiot now, ive been searching to solve iit for a week by now, and i just downloaded winamp lite and guess what.... no noise along my pretty music... now i only need a good video player (that doesnt gives noise -unlike that media player from microsoft)<<

Whats up with media player 9? Mine runs very well and there is no 'extra' noises. Surely winamp lite is not as advanced as WMP 9? Right? Help me out here somebody?

I get all the surround sound 5.1 stuff with it-or is that my sound card doing that? I dunno. Just wondering about the reply above thats all.

>>with for instance winamp 3 or the last media player from microsoft.com the sound << etc.

Umm so is winamp 3 not a 'bit' like winamp lite? So that must mean a problem elsewhere? By elimination I mean? Maybe ROD has a point-maybe.

Winamp 3 is junk. I have a pretty good feeling its resources ie ram. Games and media in the o/s are different, so you cant compare them without a quick check. Check the ram usage.

I checked the ram usage its the same, i can run winamp lite or whatever but it would be on 70 % ....so its not the ram usage...

but hey if i can play my songs with winamp lite then theres no prob .. now i just need a decent player that can play video without scrambled sound

Well its strange i just installed the real-one player (latest) and this plays everthing just fine....( and my ram usage is then at 60% available so ) It all just doesnt makes sense i guess that in a way these programs all use different ways to play audio en decode it or whatever....

thats interesting.....heres a thought...load one of the ones that doesnt work right, and see if its playing in "stereo" or "mono" mode. Than go check one that does work and see what its using. Also, open the sound settings in control panel and make sure you have the right speaker settings. IE if u have two desktop dont set it too 6.1 surround : )