Windows Media Player randomly stops for a few seconds

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'm using Vista 64 U. All the latest OS updates. Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card; lastest drivers. It's not a HD defrag. Memory is not showing any errors; CPU is stock.

I cannot trace where or why the WMP will randomly stop for 10, 15 seconds and then continue playing. Seems to only happen with music files; whether its a wave, mp3 or whatever, it will happen.

Any clues?