Adding audio to a webpage

[John Latter]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding audio to a webpage and giving (any) visitors
the option of whether they listen to it or not.

Would this work in all browsers?:

<A HREF="message.wav"><IMG SRC="button.gif"></A> <BR> Click to listen!

I've looked at some pages using google and apparently .wav files are
relatively large so I would appreciate any advice or links on any
better solutions!

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[mark | r]

use flash, there are tonnes of free players on flashkit.com they even stream
the file so it doesnt need to be downloaded before it plays - also convert
the file to mp3 as it will also be smaller.

mark

 

[Kris]

<A HREF="message.wav"><IMG SRC="button.gif"></A> <BR> Click to listen!

This would work better:


<a href="message.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" title="Listen to my message
(MP3, 120K)"><img src="button.gif" width="22" height="22" alt="Play my
message"></a>

<h#>Transcript:</h#>

<blockquote>
Welcome to my website. Have a good time here and when you leave, don't
forget the guide!
</blockquote>

 

[John Latter]

use flash, there are tonnes of free players on flashkit.com they even stream
the file so it doesnt need to be downloaded before it plays - also convert
the file to mp3 as it will also be smaller.

mark

Hi Mark,

Thankyou for the advice! At the moment, however, I just want to keep
it simple insofar as (apparently) not all users have flash 'enabled'
(er, I think that's right!)

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[John Latter]

This would work better:


<a href="message.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" title="Listen to my message
(MP3, 120K)"><img src="button.gif" width="22" height="22" alt="Play my
message"></a>

<h#>Transcript:</h#>

<blockquote>
Welcome to my website. Have a good time here and when you leave, don't
forget the guide!
</blockquote>

That looks pretty useful - thanks Kris!

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[mark | r]

Hi Mark,

Thankyou for the advice! At the moment, however, I just want to keep
it simple insofar as (apparently) not all users have flash 'enabled'
(er, I think that's right!)

err yes and not all pc owners have speakers?
i think that flash is better because - it streams, it uses MP3 which are
smaller downloads

Wavs - have to download BEFORE they play - the download is considerably
bigger than an MP3

mark

 

[rf]

err yes and not all pc owners have speakers?
i think that flash is better because - it streams, it uses MP3 which are
smaller downloads

Flash is not required to play an MP3. Just link to it. The browser will
launch (or invite the viewer to launch) the relevent application/plugin to
play the music

Wavs - have to download BEFORE they play

Wav files should not be used on the internet for the same reason that bmp's
should not. They are a) microsoft specific (IIRC), b) they are not
compressed (IIRC).

Cheers
Richard.

 

[John Latter]

err yes and not all pc owners have speakers?
i think that flash is better because - it streams, it uses MP3 which are
smaller downloads

Wavs - have to download BEFORE they play - the download is considerably
bigger than an MP3

mark

That's something else I've learned then!

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[John Latter]

Flash is not required to play an MP3. Just link to it. The browser will
launch (or invite the viewer to launch) the relevent application/plugin to
play the music


Wav files should not be used on the internet for the same reason that bmp's
should not. They are a) microsoft specific (IIRC), b) they are not
compressed (IIRC).

Cheers
Richard.

Thanks Richard - I'll look up MP3/Web on Google to see what else I can
find out.

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[jake]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding audio to a webpage and giving (any) visitors
the option of whether they listen to it or not.

Would this work in all browsers?:

<A HREF="message.wav"><IMG SRC="button.gif"></A> <BR> Click to listen!

I've looked at some pages using google and apparently .wav files are
relatively large so I would appreciate any advice or links on any
better solutions!

If your ISP permits it, convert your .wav files into RealMedia files and
stream them. The compression is excellent and the format is pretty much
an 'industry standard'.

Look at the RealAudio site for more info.:

http://www.real.com

regards.

 

[Headless]

mark | r wrote:

Please don't top post.

use flash, there are tonnes of free players on flashkit.com they even stream
the file so it doesnt need to be downloaded before it plays

That's like fixing a crack in the teapot by hitting it with a hammer,
the crack will be gone alright, but so will the teapot.

http://www.spartanicus.utvinternet.ie/streaming.htm


Headless

 

[John Latter]

If your ISP permits it, convert your .wav files into RealMedia files and
stream them. The compression is excellent and the format is pretty much
an 'industry standard'.

Look at the RealAudio site for more info.:

http://www.real.com

regards.

Thankyou Jake. The info will be useful for later on but at the moment
I just want to set something pretty basic (but better than .wav) -
particularly as I've got a lot of other stuff on the go at the moment.

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[John Latter]

There does appear to be a fly in the ointment unfortunately!

It says on this website:

http://www.fridgesoft.de/harddiskogg.php

that

The algorithms used in all currently available MP3 encoders
are patented, and require a license even for non-commercial
distribution. Consequently, HarddiskOgg can not include an
.MP3 encoding engine. Hoewever, it has drop-in support for
the LAME encoding DLL. You can download it here, unzip it
and put LAME_ENC.DLL into the HarddiskOgg directory.
However, make sure you comply with local laws by
downloading and/or using the DLL.

It looks like I shouldn't use mp3 files in the same way as I ought not
to use gifs

Are "Ogg Vorbis" files compatible with all players? (I've never heard
of them before!)

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[Toby A Inkster]

Are "Ogg Vorbis" files compatible with all players? (I've never heard
of them before!)

There are several free Ogg players about, including the famous Winamp and
Zinf. Also RealPlayer is planning Ogg support (maybe already has it?) and
there are one or two plugins for Windows Media Player.

 

[Toby A Inkster]

Are "Ogg Vorbis" files compatible with all players? (I've never heard
of them before!)

Further to that, I exclusively use oggs on my site, and in my own personal
music collection (see sig).

 

[Nico Schuyt]

Further to that, I exclusively use oggs on my site, and in my own
personal music collection (see sig).

I tried to have a look but I still get a page like this:
http://www.nicoschuyt.nl/test/toby2.jpg
(IE5.5; Win ME; 800x600)
After opening, the images are only on the lower part of the page. After a
little scrolling they cover the whole page.
Nico

 

[Whitecrest]

use flash, there are tonnes of free players on flashkit.com...

Flash is not a good choice here as he stressed "any" visitor. If this
is your goal, then creating a link is the way to go.

You can link to other types of files. For example the music you wish to
play may be available as midi this is very small. You also have the
choice of mp3, wma, rm, etc, but you will be eliminating a few of the
visitors.

 

[Toby A Inkster]

I tried to have a look but I still get a page like this:
http://www.nicoschuyt.nl/test/toby2.jpg

Hence the "icon2" stylesheet still being marked as "Experimental". If you
want to get back to normality:

http://www.goddamn.co.uk/tobyink/setstyle.php?style=default

or simply delete cookies from www.goddamn.co.uk

 

[John Latter]

Flash is not a good choice here as he stressed "any" visitor. If this
is your goal, then creating a link is the way to go.


You can link to other types of files. For example the music you wish to
play may be available as midi this is very small. You also have the
choice of mp3, wma, rm, etc, but you will be eliminating a few of the
visitors.

Hi Whitecrest,

I just wanted to put a voice message on a website and thought that mp3
would be ok until I read about there being some kind of copyright
problem.

I was thinking in terms of visitors who might not have thought of
adding any media software beyond that which came with their computer -
thats why I wanted some kind of 'general format'.

It looks like there isn't one

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

 

[John Latter]

There are several free Ogg players about, including the famous Winamp and
Zinf. Also RealPlayer is planning Ogg support (maybe already has it?) and
there are one or two plugins for Windows Media Player.

Hi Toby,

You may have seen a post I sent a couple of minutes ago but I was
thinking in terms of visitors who haven't added any software to their
computers.

--

John Latter

The 'Socially Acceptable Violence' website:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/sac.html

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html