Songs s-k-ip-p when played

Whenever I play music downloads there are pauses every second or two. I sounds like a finely skipping record. In other words, the songs don't play smoothly, there are very fine breaks in the tunes.

I download only 4-star files. Is this problem due to:
a) my connection - 56k dial-up?
b) basic version of the player?

Advice here is appreciated. I like Limewire but would be a lot happier if the songs were "smooth."