AAAArrrrrrggggghhhh! Stupid Questions

[Don Schenk]

If I put a photo.jpeg at a website like so:
website(dot)com/photoname.jpeg

One can go to http://www.website(dot)com/photoname.jpeg
and the image will open in the browser, or the image
can be saved by right-clicking. Okay. Simple enough.

If I do the same with an ebook as a .pdf file, one
an go to http://www.website(dot)com/ebook.pdf and right
click to save the .pdf or left click to open it in
Adobe Reader. Okay. Simple enough.

But...

If I do this with an .mp3 file like so:
http://www.website(dot)com/audiofile.mp3, it will
not open in Windows Media Player, nor can it be
saved by a right click.

It's not logical! AAAArrrrggggghhhhh!

Yeah, I know... I'm strange. Okay, so now I need to
get an audio player software of some kind to let
people either play or download and mp3.

Is that right? Am I reading this correctly?

[scarfeet]

it can be downloaded by right click and left click would also trigger download unless the visitor has some plugins installed that plays mp3 files directly

[zachary0611]

Whats your default player for mp3's on your os?

[Daniel_Pereira]

Hey Don,

I've got a few mp3s on my sites, I checked one and it gave me download and open options:

http://www.thefreetrafficformula.com...rdResearch.mp3

I don't know why the same thing wouldn't happen on your computer, I've get a PC with windows vista. Don't know if that changes anything.

Anyway, thanks for lunch the other day!

Daniel Pereira

[SageSound]

Originally Posted by Don Schenk

Is that right? Am I reading this correctly?

It depends ....

What Operating System are you using? What web browser? What plugins are installed in the browser? Any chance it's MS Windows with MS Internet Explorer?

Microsoft has a LOT of .... um .... biases .... and they feel it's their moral imperative to impose these biases on their customer base in order to strengthen their already ridiculous dictatorship over what's on your computer and what you can and cannot do with it.

Microsoft did not "invent" the .mp3 file format. So naturally they prefer files like .wav, .wmv, and other things that they control.

Do you think it's a mere coincidence that the Direct-X sound and video libraries that Microsoft crams down every Windows' users' throats in order to manage multi-media content cannot play Quicktime (.mov) files? Can you even play .mp4 files without a third-party player? What about Flash (.swf, .flv)?

Nada!

In fact, you cannot even open a .pdf file unless you've got Adobe Reader installed!

To make matters worse, the ways to override the default behaviors of file associations like this have gotten harder and harder to find. MS has been burying them deeper inside of multiple layers of configuration panels, most of which are outside the reach of users who aren't logged-in as Administrator -- which has been a requirement since they introduced Vista and started confusing the bejezus out of everybody.

Things like this should be easily-accessible user-oriented settings. But for whatever reason, MS has made them virtually impossible for the average user to find.

The solution is simple: put your .mp3 files inside of a .zip archive.

Or switch to a Mac.

-David

[Paul Myers]

The solution is simple: put your .mp3 files inside of a .zip archive.

Or switch to a Mac.

Or use Firefox.


Paul

[SageSound]

Originally Posted by Paul Myers

Or use Firefox.


Paul

it would be wonderful if that worked 100% of the time! It doesn't.

-David

[jacktackett]

Don,
as others have said it depends on OS/Browser/Settings.

In Firefox check Tools/Options/Applications to see what is associated with MP3s. You can do this with most browsers and OS - but as others have said MS does have a tendency to hide things.

Good luck -

best,
--Jack

[NightWolf]

I think putting it in a zip file would be easiest?

[Don Schenk]

Thanks everyone.

I'm using Vista here, I will try XP when I get to the office.

It works fine in Firefox.

I'll go look in IE to see if I can find a place to change the settings.

Thanks

:-Don

[MichaelHiles]

Don, is your MIME type on your web server configured for MP3?