Posted by cwdjrxyz on 01/21/06 11:01

©® wrote:
> I would like a sample piece of music to play:
> 1. either on page load or
> 2. if the person clicks a link.
> (I'm thining #2 would be best).
>
> Is this called embedding (not sure of terminology) and how do I do this?
> Using DW with Studio MX (6.1)

Most commercial web radio stations now use the Windows formats such as
wma for streaming to the WMP, and a greatly decreased number still use
Real formats. I have seen a very few stations in Europe that are
designed for Winamp and other players that often use a m3u playlist and
one or two that use SMIL. Nearly anyone who is into audio or video on
the net will have the WMP, and many also have the Real player, Winamp,
or one of several others. Exceptions are for computers that have OSs
other than Windows or Apple based, and there are a few special players
that will work for these.

To get you started streaming(using progressive download that allows you
to have the sound file on an ordinary html server), see:
http://www.cwdjr.info/media/streamtest.php . and see the source code.
You will need an audio file on your server that you want to play, and
for the WMP it can be a wma, a mp3, a midi, etc. The format best suited
for streaming to some who may be on dialup likely is the wma, and it
should not be recorded at much more than 30 Kbps if you want it to
start playing without long delay on a 56K dialup connection. You need
the small wax redirector file. This is to make the sound stream while
it still is downloading rather than make the song completely download
before it starts to play. The button you see is generated by the WMP in
response to the player object in the page code - you do not have to use
any script to make it work.This object code validates completely, does
not use ActiveX, and works with just about any browser on which you
have the WMP installed. It works for me on the latest versions of
Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Opera, and IE6. It also works on the old
Netscape 4.8.

It is possible to make the song play on a Real player if you use a wma
file. The Real player will play the Microsoft wma format as well as
Real formats, but modern WMPs will not play any Real formats. It is
also possible to add a m3u play list for other players. If you should
want to get more complated than just the WMP support, ask, and I can
post another example that does not increase the complexity very much.

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