Microsoft has acknowledged another embarrassing flaw in Windows Vista that slows network traffic when you're playing music or other multimedia. Various bloggers had already noticed the strange issue before Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich finally admitted it in a post on his Microsoft Technet blog.
The problem isn't just limited to playback through Windows Vista, it also affects other applications such as iTunes.
Gigabit connections slower
Essentially, the problem is that the faster the network you're pushing data through, the higher the number of system interruptions. Vista is designed to give the highest priority to media playback so that even when your PC is terribly busy, you don't experience any glitches. However, perversely, this has now slowed network traffic too much on Gigabit Ethernet systems.
Russinovich found network transfer rates of less than a third when he was playing media. The issue is more noticeable on Gigabit connections, though it still can be noticed on slower Ethernet connections.
A fix is currently being scheduled. It will also sort out a related bug that affects multiple network connections.