Flash Player Downgrade Tutorial

[cuthbert]

7 November 2012 Update

Adobe has fixed the bug in the Flash player that broke our mp3 players with their latest Flash player 11.5 update!

If our mp3 players/jukeboxes are not working for you, get the latest Flash player update here:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

And disregard everything else below the line.   

thanks
cuthbert

The Problem

If you use Firefox, Safari 5.1, or Opera for browsing the web and you've recently updated your Flash player and are now having a problem with the xspf song player or the jukeboxes on Songcrafters not working, you may want to consider downgrading your Flash player.

There's a known bug introduced in Flash player version 11.4.402.265 that breaks playback on all Flash AVM1-based players such as our xspf song player. Until Adobe fixes this bug, the xspf song player and our jukeboxes which contain songs directly uploaded to Songcrafters won't play back reliably in Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Note that IE9 and Chrome with version 11.4.402.265 of the Flash player DO work with the xspf song player and jukeboxes - so if IE or Chrome is your browser of choice, then you will likely have no problems at all. We encourage you to use the new HTML 5 song player from 64Guitars if your browser supports it (Chrome and Safari 6, plus most mobile device browsers), which allows you to play song posts. Note however that Safari 6 running with Flash player version 11.4.402.265 also does not work with our jukeboxes for songs that were directly uploaded to Songcrafters, and if you want to play them from there, you may also want to consider downgrading the Flash player.

If you are experiencing this problem and you don't want to switch browsers, you could downgrade your Flash player to the previous version. Although Adobe touts the latest version of the Flash player to be the most secure version, they also have advised users to downgrade their Flash player if they run any into blocking bugs with the Flash player - see this post:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4487439

I've downgraded my Flash player to version 11.3.300.271 (the previous version) and have been running Firefox 15 with it for about a week with no problems to date (or expected), but please understand that if you choose to downgrade your Flash player, that you do so at your own risk. Hopefully, Adobe fixes the Flash player soon so we can all use the latest and greatest, but until that time, here's a step-by-step tutorial to help if you want to downgrade your Flash player. Remember, if you are using Internet Explorer or Chrome with the latest Flash player, there's no need for you to downgrade it, and so you should not.  

Downgrading the Flash Player

1. Verify your Flash player version:

Go to http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html and if you see the animation in section 1, you've got the Flash player installed. Look at section 2:

If your Flash player version is 11.4.402.265 and your browser is NOT Internet Explorer or Chrome, then it will have a problem with our xspf song player and those songs in jukeboxes. If you normally use Internet Explorer or Chrome for your browser, then this doesn't matter because it works with these browser, so don't bother going to the next step. Also, if your version is earlier than 11.4.402.265, then consider not updating your Flash player to this version if you get prompted, because as soon as you do, the song player will break for you...and therefore you also shouldn't be reading any further.  

2. Download the previous version of the Flash player:

Go to http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/fp_11.3.300.271_archive.zip (98 MB download). Once you've downloaded and unzipped the archive, open the fp_11.3.300.271_archive folder and then you'll see two folders - open the release folder (the one that does not end with _debug):

3. Uninstall the current version of the Flash player:

Once you've opened the folder, you'll see a list of files.

Choose the correct uninstaller based upon your operating system:

• Windows: double-click uninstall_flashplayer11_3r300_271_win.exe
• Mac OS X: double-click uninstall_flashplayer11_3r300_271_mac.dmg, then once the image has mounted, double-click on the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller

In the dialog that comes up, click the Uninstall button to uninstall the Flash player from your system. Wait until the uninstaller has finished.

4. Install the 11.3.300.271 version of the Flash player:

Choose the correct installer based upon your operating system:

• Windows: double-click flashplayer11_3r300_271_win.exe
• Mac OS X: double-click flashplayer11_3r300_271_mac.dmg, then once the image has mounted, double-click on Install Adobe Flash Player

In the dialog that comes up, click the Install button to install Flash player version 11.3 to your system. Allow the installer to complete. If the installer asks you about Flash player updates, do not choose Automatic - select Notify or Don't Download instead.

5. Final check and cleanup:

Do one more check of your Flash player version. Go to http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html and if you see the animation in section 1, you've got the Flash player installed. Examine section 2 again:

If your Flash player version is 11.3.300.271, then it will work with our xspf song player and jukeboxes.

Special Note to Windows Users: When you uninstalled the Flash player, it also uninstalled the ActiveX Flash Player used by Internet Explorer. If you use Internet Explorer at all, rather than installing the older 11.3.300.271 Flash player for IE, I'd recommend you install the latest 11.4.402.265 version, which will work with our xspf song player and our jukeboxes. Open Internet Explorer, and then point it to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ to get the latest version for IE. Don't update any other of your other browsers including Chrome (until a fix has been released by Adobe), as all browsers except IE use the same Flash player plugin, and you'll have to do this all over again.

Other Options

If you don't want to downgrade your Flash player, you can always choose to wait for an update to the Flash player plugin to be released by Adobe. If you have Chrome (Windows or Mac) or Safari 6 (Mac OS X 10.7 or later), you can try the new HTML 5 audio player mentioned above to play song posts from those browsers. Otherwise, you can download the mp3 directly to your system using the link at the bottom of the song post, and then listen to it locally on the audio player of your choice.

[64Guitars]

Excellent tutorial cuthbert!  Thanks for doing this.

[Gnasty]

Yes a great tutorial for a dummy like me. Worked like a charm and very easy read! Way to go Cuth..Thanks!!

[SteveB]

Ah ha. A known culprit. I've noticed some probs with tryna play songs in Orig & Covers...and also those from Soundclick. A great tute btw. Well done C. 

[cuthbert]

Windows users: looks like Adobe may have changed the archive since I posted this tutorial. Look here instead:

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/installers/archive/fp_11.3.300.273_archive.zip

[Mach]

Thanks cuthbert. Evidently there is something on my laptop that is blocking me from extracting these files. I have to investigate this further.

I can extract other zipped files that I already have saved.

Thanks for your help and finding the new archive, they are there but no extraction. I will get to the bottom of this.

[Mach]

Got it! All is guuuud. Thanks again Cuthbert

[danieldesete]

I'm just after downloading the latest version of Adobe flash player and it seems that the horrible bug is gone ! Isn't that good news?

[cuthbert]

Hi Daniel - thanks for the update! I'll try the Flash player update and report back my findings as well.

Perhaps the days of downgrading are now over.

[cuthbert]

By golly, it looks like Adobe rolled out the fix in version 11.5.502.110 of the Flash player. Thanks for the heads up, Daniel!  And thanks, Adobe!

So far I've tested it on Safari 6 and Firefox 16 on the Mac, and our single player and jukeboxes are working just fine. I'll take a look at other platforms later today and update with what else I find.

In the meantime, if you rolled back your Flash player or switched browsers or whatever to work around the bug in the Flash player, here's the link to the latest update:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/