newbie-ish question: is QT required on Windows for audio in a player?

[Curt Ford]

I may just be missing this in the docs, but..

Do windows users have to have QT installed to hear mp3 audio played  
through a player object?

My project uses lots of external audio, played through a player.  
Sometimes an entire file, more often a portion, using startTime and  
endTime; sometimes the .mp3 is local, sometimes accessed over the  
net. Works great on OSX.

A few Windows users have had trouble getting the external audio (this  
was discussed a few weeks ago by me & others). I'd hoped playing the  
files locally would help but a tester has reported getting a few  
seconds of audio for one clip, then nothing, even when playing local  
files. She said she had had QuickTime, but uninstalled it a while  
back. Is there something else needed, winAmp or something else, on XP  
for playing mp3 files through a player?

thanks!

Curt