When i download a song and try and play it on the limewire media player i get a message saying error file format unknown, even previous files i have listened too on the old software will not work this has only started happening since i got the new free version of limewire!

Disable your LW media player by going to LW's menu Tools>Menu>Player & unticking the option box & pressing the Apply button. Now your default mp3 player will play them & no issues. If you don't have a decent player try QCD which is free & has inbuilt codecs & plays anything: http://www.quinnware.com/ If LW is too busy downlding & uplding, etc. the media player can be compromised & not play properly.

i dont have a menu option in tools ony (statistics) and when i try and play the file it says the file type is unknown but its an mp3!!

well ... lol ... it'd help to know which os you use: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/announ...?s=&forumid=29 Doh! Menu in Tools? Help us & we'll try to help u.

if u use a mac, go to the prferences, then to player, and unclick the box

I had the same problem and they did not play on Windows plaer either. I found that the duration and the bits were not showing on the files. I downloaded a file called MP3RepairTool. It fixes 99.9% of these MP3 files.