I found a solution for running my older AM programs on Vista - here it is:
Copy sndre32.exe from older version of windows and paste it in the system32 file, then run it once. When I did this I got a message that aid it was not working right......would you like windows to fix the problem, click yes. Once this was done, my programs ran fine with complete sound.
The programs continued to run fine even after I deleted sndrec32.exe file from system32. It may be that you don't even have to put it in the system 32 file - first try pasteing it on your desktop and running it from there. Evidently running sndrecorder32.exe prompts Vista to install the proper codec.
I am working on making a fix installer (without microsofts sndrec32.exe file) that will do the same thing so that I can include it with my software to customers or freinds who want to run the programs I made previously on Vista.
Here's why from wikipedia -
Sound Recorder in all versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista, was based on Audio Compression Manager. It could open and save audio in 8-bit or 16-bit uncompressed PCM format (.wav) from 8 kHz to 48 kHz, including CD Quality audio (44,100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo PCM).
Although it allowed saving only to the .wav container format, it could use any of the installed ACM codecs to compress the audio; typically several voice codecs and the MPEG Layer III (MP3) codec were installed by default. As ACM supported only Constant bitrate (CBR) stereo audio files, Sound Recorder also had these limitations and did not support Variable bitrate (VBR) files or multichannel audio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Recorder_(Windows)