How to put music on a website?

[July29]

I have a client who is a DJ at a local radio station. I just built him a website.

I know how to put music on a website, but he wants to do something a little different and I'm not sure how to do it.

He has 5 mixes that he's done. He wants the 5 mixes to play randomly when anyone signs onto the website. For instance, if i go to his website now, it will play mix #3. Next time I log in, it plays mix #5.

He also wants to have the mix play continuously as you browse the site through its different tabs. Is there a way to do this? Maybe a player you can install on the site?

I haven't had this one come up before - thanks for your help!

[Odhinn]

I'd try to convince him not to do it, personally. I think that there's nothing more annoying than having music play as soon as a page loads, even if you're talking about a musical artist.

If you have to code it, it would be pretty easy, just use PHP to make a random number when a visitor loads, and then have the player check that to determine which file to play.

[Randy Bheites]

I agree that having music play the minute you get to a site is a complete turnoff. Not to mention how badly the loading time bogs things down.

Consider installing a simple flash or java applet MP3 player, there's tons of them available. For example: Music Scripts - PHP Scripts

[terryd]

Originally Posted by Odhinn

I'd try to convince him not to do it, personally. I think that there's nothing more annoying than having music play as soon as a page loads, even if you're talking about a musical artist.

If you have to code it, it would be pretty easy, just use PHP to make a random number when a visitor loads, and then have the player check that to determine which file to play.

This would be the easiest way to do it.

Also I agree with Odhinn, I hate going to a site only to have music pop up. I'll quickly look for a way to stop it, if I can't see a way to stop it immediately then I'm closing the browser or hitting the back button ASAP.