Sound and Plug-ins n241.tplt Early Audio Files Have been on the Web since the early days. Files are usually quite large and may take some time to download Audio Today Streaming Audio has made it possible to have live broadcasts on the Web Legal Concerns Audio files, like images, are copyrighted. However, there are many royalty-free sound effects and music - once you have paid for the package of sounds Best bet - Record it yourself Nonstreaming Audio Are retrieved from the server and are downloaded to the hard disk in their entirety before they can begin to play. Advantages
- does not require any special software
- Simple to create in standard formats Disadvantages - Large file size and difficult to protect copyrights and limit distribution Streaming Audio Allows for the audio to be heard almost immediately Requires several software components
- an encoder - which converts audio to the streaming format
- a player
- special audio server software Advantages of Streaming Audio Audio begins soon after the stream begins Sound quality is not as severely sacrificed Artists and publishers can control distribution and protect the copyright Disadvantages of Streaming Audio Possible high cost of server software Requires a dedicated server (Wally) Sound quality and stream may be affected by low speed or inconsistent connections to the Internet. Adding Nonstreaming Audio to HTML Using a simple anchor tag (<a>)
<a href = "audio/a song.wav">Play a song</a> <Embed> tag Using the <embed> tag, the browser places the plug-in controls in the flow of the text like an image <embed> tag has several attributes:
-src (which is the URL)
- loop=true(false or number) is how many times the file will play
- and there are more Background Sound Use the tag <bgsound src = "audio/a song.mid"> Streaming Audio Plug-ins available:
- RealAudio
- Shockwave
- Quicktime Audio Adding Streaming Audio to HTML Use <a> link or the <embed> tag Some plug-ins require a special go-between file (metafile using the suffix .ram or .ra) Example:
<a href = "song.ram">Link to a song</a> Reference Web Design in a Nutshell by Jennifer Neiderest