I'll look into all of that. Thanks for the useful info

In the WMP Changed State event I think I can use various checks like:

VB Code:
  1. If mPlayer.playState = WMPLib.WMPPlayState.wmppsBuffering Then

  2.  
  3.  End If

and perhaps update the countdown accordingly. This buffering may be equivalent in some respects to the pre-loading you were referring to.