Author "javax.sound.midi.InvalidMidiDataException: cannot get soundbank from stream" after java update

Question

Not sure where to post this issue.
I am noticing this error since I did the Mac update. The Mac update included the java update. Right now the java version is 1.6.0_31. My Mac OS X version is 10.7.3. I am seeing the problem for all the soundfont files that I am trying to load. The error i get is.
javax.sound.midi.InvalidMidiDataException: cannot get soundbank from stream
     at javax.sound.midi.MidiSystem.getSoundbank(MidiSystem.java:565)
     at myPackage.MyMusicApp.main(MyMusicApp.java:14)
Below is a small program I built that shows the code.
package myPackage;
import java.io.File;
import javax.sound.midi.*;
public class MyMusicApp {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Synthesizer synth = MidiSystem.getSynthesizer(); synth.open();
            File f =  new File("/Users/poorav/eclipseGIT/myApp/soundbanks/1247_KitDRY.sf2");
            Soundbank soundbank = MidiSystem.getSoundbank( f);
            synth.loadAllInstruments(soundbank);
        } catch (Exception e)
            e.printStackTrace();
I am not sure what the previous build of java I was on, but i know that it was a 1.6 version. Any ideas of what could have caused this?
thanks

Answer 1

No satisfactory progress!
I submitted a bug for this using the Apple bug reporter on 9th April (#11208868) and despite asking for an update, it has been completely ignored (even now). I'm not impressed.
I then issued a (paid for) Developer Technical Support issue which was credited back to my account a few days later with no explanation. When I asked why, I eventually got: "At this time DTS does not provide code-level support for Java"!
So, Apple are assuming to responsibility for this problem. I realise that Oracle is mostly responsible for Java but Apple took this crippled version (how much testing did they do?) and updated our customers' machines with it. This has effectively disabled a key feature of our product and has cost us damage to our company's reputation. Still Apple don't care and they rely on the fact that we are too small to sue them. You can see I'm not happy! I naively thought Apple would make some attempt to assist their developers.