title: Playing mp3 files with mciSendString (MCIERR_CANNOT_LOAD_DRIVER)
body: <p>I am trying to write some code that can play an .mp3 file. I thought I could use the mciSendString call, but I am getting a strange error.</p>
  <p>So, when I have this code:</p>
  <pre><code>int rc=mciSendString(L&quot;open songname.mp3 alias song1&quot;, NULL, 0, 0); 
  </code></pre>
  <p><code>rc</code> returns with the number 266, and the error string returned with <code>GetErrorString</code> was:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>&quot;Unknown problem while loading the specified device driver.&quot;</p>
  <p>Error 266 is MCIERR_CANNOT_LOAD_DRIVER</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>I have also tried:</p>
  <pre><code>int rc=mciSendString(L&quot;open songname.mp3 type mpegvideo alias song1&quot;, NULL, 0, 0); 
  </code></pre>
  <p>and received the same error.</p>
  <p>I thought it may be the mp3 file, but I tried a few different ones and kept getting the same error.</p>
  <p>My code is in C++ and is running on Windows 7. Is my code missing something?</p>