I have a Maestro 2 PCI sound card. It works flawlesly on Win98, and various Linux distributions. However, Mr. XP can''t just swallow it. It detects it OK, sound plays, etc. BUT, if I am listening to an MP3/OGG/RADIO using Winamp, or whatever other program, the sound starts to get really nasty. Like a very bad noise. If I have a game in the background, or just use IE to visit sites and such, then it gets even worse. However, games are usually unaffected by it (or they are affected, but not as much, and usually after a longer period). I tried everything, such as changing the IRQ, getting some unsigned (supposedly newer) drivers, etc. Nothing works. I think that the XP problem is that it tries to multiplex the sound (ie. not lock the soundcard, and let many programs access it at the same time). Win98 didn''t let me do that, for example if I had Winamp running, the IE sounds didn''t play. So is there any way to tell Mr. XP to give applications exclusive access to the sound card? Anyone else experienced that? Any advices? (besides for change your OS, buy a new card, etc.)