downloaded music files don't play correctly?

[slowdown]

Here's the problem:

A music file downloads succesfully but when I play it, by launching it on the site, or using one of my media players, instead of the expected track, I get electronic noise. Typically, it sounds like an extended beep, with repeat interruptions. I delete and find a similar track to download, but each attempt gets the same result. There is no warning that it's a corrupted file, and I select the same song from different hosts, with varying file size and titles, yet I can't get it to play right. What's happening?

This has occurred in the past, and I put it down to an aberration, but again this morning, I experienced multiple attempts with different songs, and all I can imagine is that there is some code in the track or in the transfer that garbles the sound.

Anyone have experience with this, or suggestions on how to overcome this problem?

Thanks.