If your'e not a Francophobe I'd suugest that you download the fully featured FREE ABC Player - ABC Navigator - at http://groink.chez.tiscali.fr/abcnavgt/mainfra.html. It has one of the better human interfaces of all the ABC free software.

It has some excelleny features if you like to play along with tunes. You can vary speed, transpose the key, sert for continuous play. One feature I particularly like is the ability to start at a particular Bar Number and the fact that the Bar Number is continuously displayed.

Purists might note that it doesn't play tied notes perfectly, but it's close enough for folk music.

While the website is in French my downloaded version has commands in English - not that it matters too much cos the whole thing works largely like a CD player.

Your conflict with NoteWorthy Composer might be really simple. On most PC's you are only allowed to have one application connected to your MIDI Out (Playback) at a time. Close NWC (or whatever audio you have open) and then try your other audio application. I know there are ways of avoiding these problems (by inssssstalling additional software) but it's never worried me so much that I've ever bothered to use it. It's called something like 'Hubble Loop Player" and ut's free.

Regards, John