overread: I'll give that video thing a try. I suspect this is one of those video codecs supports that microsoft lost (I seem to recall a reasonably major older video codex was lost a year or two ago). Either microsoft wouldn't pay or the company charged to much for an older codec - so for modern users its no problem but for quite a few older games it has totally hacked away the video.
I seem to recall you can get it independantly from the company but that its cost to the consumer was very steep.
Edit its not the video codec - they play perfectly in WMP (windows media player) although I note that ffdshow is active to play them.
edit 2 - removing the videos does let the game work (for me at least) goes straight to the main menu without any problem. Not to get music to work (and yes I've tried the trick mentioned in the music thread with no luck)
MS removed support for Indeo in versions of Windows starting with SP1. So, if you're needing to use those, then you are stuck buying a copy for $15 from the owner, and they don't offer a trial or refund. So, you can reasonably end up paying for something that doesn't solve the problem.