it was the stupid manditory update of quicktime that screwed everything up

I had an older version of quicktime that I was using and while trying to use it one day it told me that an update was needed. and that was the source of the problem

once I uninstalled quicktime5 all was well
so quicktime5 can go thell and give me back my memory

all I want is to play mp3s man

thanks to all for looking! and terminator, I'll take your advice!