Music Files

[SCG]

Hi!
I want to set up a page so that users can hear samples of songs from a CD.
I can do it by making series of buttons to load a new page that autostarts a .wav file but this is probably not the best way. So some questions are:
1. What is the best method?
2. What is the best music file format to use (quality vs size, also most universal)?
3. How can I ensure a file only downloads when user wants it to?
All sugestions welcome.

[HTML]

a wav or mp3 woruld work. I see nothing wrong with just creating a basic link to the file.

Dave

[coreybryant]

I use this code a lot:

<object id="MediaPlayer" width=320 height=286
classid="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
standby="Loading Microsoft® Windows® Media Player components..."
type="application/x-oleobject"
codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=6,4,7,1112">
<PARAM NAME="filename" VALUE="interview_fox_video.asx">
<PARAM NAME="autoStart" VALUE="true"> <PARAM NAME="showControls" VALUE="true">
<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="true"> <PARAM NAME="Autorewind" VALUE="true">
<PARAM NAME="ShowDisplay" VALUE="false">
<EMBED SRC="interview_fox_video.asx" WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=286 type="application/x-mplayer2" name=MediaPlayer autostart=1 showcontrols=0 showstatusbar=1 autorewind=1 showdisplay=0>
</EMBED></OBJECT>

Just change the source (interview_fox_video.asx) in BOTH places to the path of yours. You can also change the dimensions.

If they want to download it - you can place a link & suggest they right click & save as. Depending on how they might have their browser set up - it might just open their default player if they click on it.

A WMA is really small, but will not work in Netscape or on a MAC. You can also use a MOV (Quicktime). A lot usually give you the choice between what format. This would help to cut down on your bandwidth some.