MediaPlayer.create() always returns null

Question

I have used the mediaplayer before, and I have never had this problem. Whenever I try to use MediaPlayer.create(), the method gives me null, and I can't play my sounds. Is there anything that I am missing?

public class Game extends Activity
{
    private MediaPlayer mp = null;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.game);

        mp = MediaPlayer.create(getBaseContext(), R.raw.sound);
    }
}

my sound.mp3 is in my raw folder, which I placed in there by draging my sound to the folder in eclipse. Please help, since I have played sound before, this is really bugging me :(

Answer 1

The create() API returns null if it somehow failed.

The reason in this case is due to a corrupt mp3 file.

Answer 2

In my case, it was the emulator (AVD)

Make sure that you also test it using a real Android device

or, create a new AVD profile with better spec and newer Android version

What seems to always work regardless of which AVD is using 128kbps mp3 audio file