Windows has no "internal method" to play mp3s. At best, you can have a codec that decodes .wav files encoded with the Layer-III codec (for example by the Fraunhofer Institut).

Your best bet short of manually decoding the mp3 stream or linking a mp3 player DLL is to launch the mp3 file through the shell facilities:

  # one of my favourite songs!
  my $mp3 = "Unknown Artist - 02 - unknown.mp3";
  system(qq{start "$mp3" "$mp3"});
[download]

perl -MHTTP::Daemon -MHTTP::Response -MLWP::Simple -e ' ;    # The  
$d = new HTTP::Daemon and fork and getprint $d->url and exit;#spider
($c = $d->accept())->get_request(); $c->send_response( new   #in the
HTTP::Response(200,$_,$_,qq(Just another Perl hacker\n))); ' #  web
[download]

Included in the Audio::MPEG docs is an MP3->WAV routine which may come in handy.

Cheers, Ben.

2 methods I use to play an MP3 in my program on Windows XP with Perl.

a> I don't have the code handy, but you can launch Windows Media Player with a playlist as a Win32 process. I never learned how to make a WMP playlist from Perl, :(.

b> The way I do it now in my Perl programs is to embed the MP3 in a SWF file in a local html file and play it through the Internet Explorer. (Then you can make a pretty album cover to display while the music plays.) Just launch the Internet Explorer with html file as argument with win32 process.

Audio::Mpeg does however needs an external library, if I understand the docs correctly?
So I decided to try Corion's suggestion. And voila, flawless victory!

I'd kiss him if only he were a pretty girl. ;)

below my code, you might find it handy, allthough it could use some cleaning up. Messy teabag eh...

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#perltk wav/mp3 browser example

use strict;
use Tk;
use Win32::Sound;
use Tk::FileSelect;
use Cwd;

my $dir  = "C:/Mijn\ documenten";
my $loop = 0;
my @selected;

my $Form1 = MainWindow->new;
$Form1->title("Form1");
$Form1->geometry("400x200+8+8");

my $Label1 = $Form1->Label(
    -borderwidth => 1,
    -text        => "initial dir:",
    -background  => "#C0C0C0",
    -cursor      => "",
    -font        => "Tahoma 8 normal"
);

$Label1->place(
    -width  => 50,
    -height => 16,
    -x      => 16,
    -y      => 16
);

my $Edit1 = $Form1->Entry(
    -textvariable => \$dir,
    -cursor       => "",
    -font         => "Tahoma 8 normal"
);

$Edit1->place(
    -width  => 200,
    -height => 16,
    -x      => 66,
    -y      => 16
);

my $output = $Form1->Scrolled( "Text", -scrollbars => 'e' )->pack();

$output->place(
    -width  => 390,
    -height => 100,
    -x      => 15,
    -y      => 90
);

my $Button1 = $Form1->Button(
    -text    => "play",
    -cursor  => "",
    -command => sub { &play(); },
    -font    => "Tahoma 8 normal"
);

$Button1->place(
    -width  => 75,
    -height => 25,
    -x      => 5,
    -y      => 40
);

my $Button2 = $Form1->Button(
    -text    => "stop",
    -cursor  => "",
    -command => sub { &stop(); },
    -font    => "Tahoma 8 normal"
);

$Button2->place(
    -width  => 75,
    -height => 25,
    -x      => 105,
    -y      => 40
);

my $Button3 = $Form1->Button(
    -text    => "select mp3 file",
    -cursor  => "",
    -command => sub { &openfd(); },
    -font    => "Tahoma 8 normal"
);

$Button3->place(
    -width  => 75,
    -height => 25,
    -x      => 205,
    -y      => 40
);

my $Button4 = $Form1->Button(
    -text    => "select wav file",
    -cursor  => "",
    -command => sub { &openfd2(); },
    -font    => "Tahoma 8 normal"
);

$Button4->place(
    -width  => 75,
    -height => 25,
    -x      => 305,
    -y      => 40
);

my $Check1 = $Form1->Checkbutton(
    -variable => \$loop,
    -text     => "loop wav?"
);

$Check1->place(
    -width  => 100,
    -height => 17,
    -x      => 20,
    -y      => 70
);

my $fs = $Form1->FileSelect(
    title   => "Load MP3 - File",
    -filter => "*.mp3",
    -directory => "$dir"

      #doesn't work yet!
      #-selectmode => 'multiple' 
);

my $fs2 = $Form1->FileSelect(
    title   => "Load WAV - File",
    -filter => "*.wav|*.mp3",
    -directory => "$dir"

      #doesn't work yet!
      #-selectmode => 'multiple' 
);

tie( *STDERR, 'Tk::Text', $output );
tie( *STDOUT, 'Tk::Text', $output );

$SIG{'__WARN__'} = sub { print STDERR @_ };

MainLoop;

############################ SUBS ############################

sub play {
    foreach my $song (@selected) {

        if ( $song =~ m/mp3/gi ) {

            # plays one of Corions favourite songs! ;)
            print "playing mp3:\n$song\n";
            system(qq{start "$song" "$song"});
        }

        else {

            if ( $loop eq "1" ) {
                print "playing wav(looping):\n $song\n";
                Win32::Sound::Play( "$song", SND_ASYNC | SND_LOOP );
            }

            else {
                foreach $song (@selected) {
                    print "playing wav:\n$song\n";
                    Win32::Sound::Play( "$song", SND_ASYNC );
                }
            }

        }

    }
}

sub stop {
    Win32::Sound::Stop();
}

#file dialog
sub openfd {
    @selected = $fs->Show();
    &printy();
}

#file dialog2
sub openfd2 {
    @selected = $fs2->Show();
    &printy();
}

#prints the selection
sub printy {
    foreach my $song (@selected) {
        print "selected:\n--------------------------------------\n$son
+g\n"
          if defined $song;
    }
}
[download]

Arbogast mentioned playing the file through Flash. Seven Deadly (Lore Sjoberg of the Brunching Shuttlecocks) has produced Echindna, which does this using Perl and some predesigned flash.

Hope this helps.