Posted by cwdjrxyz on 01/22/06 19:39

Toby Inkster wrote:
> wikigrrl@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > Automatic web audio is the sonic equivalent of popups.
>
> I would say that pop-ups are nothing compared to background music when it
> comes to annoyances.

If you are speaking of the old Microsoft background sound, which plays
automatically, can not be turned off, and often is set to loop without
limit, I have to agree with you. Even if I like music in general, I may
very much dislike the selection on a certain page.

However, using nearly any of the modern methods of streaming, you can
use a start-stop button and set it to only start when you click the
button.The more elaborate players such as the WMP and Real allow you to
use a small bar console that in addition has volume controls,
information about the cut being played, and a download status bar that
shows how fast the audio is being downloaded in relation to how much of
the file has been played as the audio is still downloading. Download
does not start until you click the start button. All of this is just
part of the players, and is controlled by parameters in the player
object code. Also, if the browser does not support a player or a
certain sound format, one can write the code so that the start-stop
button or control mini console does not show up at all, so the viewer
will never know the page had sound, unless he or she looks at the
source code. Much the same considerations apply to video formats
including flash, although you would never know it from viewing some of
those flash ads that auto start and can not be turned off. Unless the
page is about a music selection, another very bothersome thing to me is
when someone writes the code to bring up the whole WMP complete with
light show that nearly fills the screen and makes the page impossible
to read. You can click a control or two and minimize the player.
However, if you embed the player correctly(hopefully using an object
rather than illegal embed tag), you need not bother people with all of
this.

Even more bothersome is when someone sends you an email with a musical
selection set to autoplay. At least here you usually can configure how
you view mail so that you do not have to view, or listen to, the html
effects, including the music. However, a few people may have a good
reason to have their mail set up to include html effects and not just
plain text.

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