I have a 385 mb, 58 minute long AVI file that I downloaded a couple days ago and when I attempt to play it back it only plays about 30 seconds of it before restarting again . I have tried playing the file in both Windows Media and WinAmp and once the count timr goes down 30 seconds it stops and starts over again.

Does anyone have any clue as to what is going on and how it can possibly be fixed?

Thanks very much in advance to ANY opinions on this!

AFAIK WinAmp's very good. If you like, you could also try playing the file with VLC player...if that fails as well then I'd guess it's just a crappy file. You can download VLC here, choose a close mirror for download.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Did you preview the file while downloading? It's a good idea to preview after about 10% download, just to check that things look ok. Also, always check a video file before download with Bitzi. Other users might have rated the file & in that case you'll have some idea of it's content & quality.
How to use Bitzi

Thanks Birdy......I tried what you said and guess it's just a crappy file.

In the future I will take your advice about previewing them and checking it out with Bitzi first.

Thanks again...