mp3 Audio Player in Firefox

Toss up. Do I ask this question here... or over where the engineers hang out? I'll try here first.

Building a web site so I can become a real V-O guy.

I've got it about 30% built. I know things that work fine on the desktop sometimes fall on their face when it goes live on the server. So, as rag-tag as it is, I moved it to the server. (how or why would anyone find it for now? and if they do, so what!)

Sure enough. That little embed thing that shows up where you click to hear the Demo Reel works just fine....... in Internet Explorer!

In Firefox...... total failure. Firefox does not do mp3. Oh, with a plug-in it is supposed to... but what shows up on the screen is butt-ugly.

I tried an alternate bit of code that made it work in Firefox but it was ugly on the screen.... and it made Internet Explorer the total failure.

Does someone have some "magic HTML code" that will kiss my page and make it well? Do I need to stay up all night for a couple of nights learning a whole lot about JavaScript? Do I need to get my wallet out of Jack Benny's squeaky, creaky vault and purchase a magic audio player package?

The search seems endless. Mac or Windows? Which release of the various browsers? And don't forget iPads and tablets, iPhone and Android, etc...

Forget javascript. I'm using the audio controls tag in html5. Check it out here. Their code is basically the same as what I'm using.

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_audio_controls.asp

Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:

Toss up. Do I ask this question here... or over where the engineers hang out? I'll try here first.

Building a web site so I can become a real V-O guy.

I've got it about 30% built. I know things that work fine on the desktop sometimes fall on their face when it goes live on the server. So, as rag-tag as it is, I moved it to the server. (how or why would anyone find it for now? and if they do, so what!)

Sure enough. That little embed thing that shows up where you click to hear the Demo Reel works just fine....... in Internet Explorer!

In Firefox...... total failure. Firefox does not do mp3. Oh, with a plug-in it is supposed to... but what shows up on the screen is butt-ugly.

I tried an alternate bit of code that made it work in Firefox but it was ugly on the screen.... and it made Internet Explorer the total failure.

Does someone have some "magic HTML code" that will kiss my page and make it well? Do I need to stay up all night for a couple of nights learning a whole lot about JavaScript? Do I need to get my wallet out of Jack Benny's squeaky, creaky vault and purchase a magic audio player package?

Click to expand...

Goat Rodeo Cowboy.. FWIW.. one doesn't really need a website. Rarely is one booked from a site. With that said the website is to house demos and contact info so you can send links to agencies, etc.

If you're on a Pay to Play site like Voices.com or Voice123.com you can house demos and contact info there for the $199/year fee. And, it's a write off as well. Same as a site you would build.

Or... create a Facebook page and put it all there. That's free. House the demos via Dropbox or Mediafire... or Soundcloud and post the links to the FB page.

A couple of points, Chuck-

The entry fee for the P to P sites you mention is closer to $300 per year.  Fine to be there if you want to point potential clients to a few thousand other voices for their consideration at the same web location.

The key to getting work, at least at the commercial level, is to get clients or ad agencies to hear your demos so they can decide whether or not your voice is what they're looking for.  If you can't do that, you haven't a chance of getting hired.  As you point out, being able to send an agency a link is a terrific way to obtain that objective.

Also, they're are darned few legitimate businesses these days that are without a website - some very well done and some not so well done, but they are websites. Having a great website adds to your credibility as a professional VO talent.

Some things we might choose to do as a business venture come with very tangible rules, guides, expectations.

Start a restaurant. Board of Health will define life for you. The local city will define a business license situation. The zoning people will get involved in the design of your signage. The wage and hour people will have a few rules for you, as will the Internal Revenue Service.

Hanging our your shingle and offering to record voice for people comes with very, very little in the way of formal, spelled-out rules. But I assume there are some expectations. I don't care if I offer to paint your house, do like my neighbor and offer to come unlock your car when your keys are lost... when you stand face to face with someone in the supermaket lobby or the post office or at a chamber of commerce "mixer"... I have found through the years that the first thing you do is offer a business card. You know most of them will be pitched within a week or so, but if you admit you don't have one, potential customers have to wonder how committed you are to the task.

For the voice business, I make this assumption: unless you have been doing a lot of recordings while working for a radio station and have a lot of telephone and maybe face-to-face contact with ad agencies, etc., you will need to do a lot of things that fall under the umbrella of marketing. Call a prospect and I would expect them to often suggest: If you will give me a link to your demo, we will take a listen.

I'm old school. Some purchasers of voice work are old school. Facebook as a primary link strikes me as something kin to handing a prospect someone elses business card that you have marked through the face and written you contact info on the back in pencil. Yes, in the next two weeks I will add this venture to Linked-In and I will be found in Facebook. But I look at those as the binding around the edge of the carpet.

Going back to my original post. I have on my "test" website a kludge of code that puts my Demo-Track in a form that IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari will play. I had not been building any websites lately so I am not up to speed on HTML5 so I am trying to make my new site fit the new standards in hopes that the very best audio players can be gracefully incorporated.

I am still exploring the various sites that allow voice people to get exposure. Some specialize in book narration. E-Learning seems to be brand new and traditions not yet fully set in concrete. I am still trying to evaluate what pay-to-play sites might work for me. I am still looking for leads to the people who "own" the market for narrating video productions.

Hey! This all keeps me from getting into mischief I should be avoiding anyway. ;D

Follow up report.

I spent a big part of the day yesterday sifting out the commas, periods and semi-colons carelessly placed in some code... and I have working.. (on the desktop) the best combination yet. It still balks when someone is using Internet Explorer and has security set where Active-X is not allow to function without the users permission. (Not a bad choice.... I know that because MY machine is set that way to slow down the hackers a bit.)

Here is the complication that I want that makes all this elusive and difficult, and one or two of the suggestions you folks offered did not help solve the complication.

If I put all my stuff in ONE continuous lengthy DEMO REEL, the task is much simpler. But if I want somewhere between 3 and six different choices to appear on screen all at once, the process gets a bit more messy

• Click here for Book Narration demo
  
• Click here for video documentary Narration sample
  
• Click here for Radio Commercial
• 
  
  • Click here for Telephone Answering voice
    
  • Click here for e-Learning example
  • 
    
  
  I may have to settle for less than perfection..... at least on the first try. ;D

Oh how I love trying to outsmart the software.

I must have edited that last post SIX TIMES trying to fix the list feature.

If I can't get a list to work... what chance do I have in making the audio work! ???

You can easily embed a player for each of your demos. Google "free mp3 flash player" for some tips. JW Player is one of the most commonly used ones.

Now, if you don't want to use Flash, that's another story... :

I want to minimize the need for the "listener/viewer" to have to install software in order to listen to my content. I got into conversation (on line) with a well known v-o talent this week and asked if he did his own website or did he hire it done. (It had the LOOK and FEEL that I want.) He gave me the name of the company that built and maintains his site. Then I pulled his site up in each of the web browsers I have installed. IE...great! Firefox...great! Safari... great! CHROME--- uh. oh. <insert a big BRONX CHEER right here... known in some circles as "The Raspberries".>

If a potential client, an agency or whatever calls to tell me I should clean up my website... he/she can't get my DEMO to play, I don't want to be the guy who has to reply: YOU need to clean up YOUR COMPUTER in the receiving end.

I looked into JW Player and apparently they have changed their offerings a bit now. As I read it, if you are going to use even the lesser version which most people think of as the "free" version in a commercial setting (which selling your voice work would be a commercial setting) then they want an annual fee. I may eventually end up there.

For those of us who "batten down the hatches" to keep the storms of virus infection and hacking to a minimum, the need for FLASH PLAYER may be a problem on the receiving end. And I haven't satisfied myself that FLASH is an equal-opportunity player when it comes to the various web browsers that people may be using on their end. (Because my machine is reasonably well lashed down, I notice the little tiny security pop-up or audible click which indicates: "You have to give your permission before I can do what you just clicked on!"

I'm afraid that may be the problem with EVERY solution... but I keep looking for the most land-mine-free solution.

GRC - I'm curious as to why the information on the html5 site I recommended didn't work for you? It's cross platform, no Flash, no Javascript, no extra software needed. I hear it on Macs and PCs running the most used browsers, IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.

Because it refuses to load in Internet Explorer 9 unless you are willing to click on the pop-up and authorize Active-X.

Now, after I find out that other player schemes have equally troublesome behavior, I may come back to the code you provided and do some research. Can I control the appearance of how it appears on screen? Can I "gang" three or four different instances together and let the user pick from them? Can I put "content Labels" on the PLAYER or do I have to throw my four PLAYERS on screen and then just use html to throw description between them and let user guess whether the label is for the one above or the one below?

If I am throwing up a "current page" on a church website and I want to put a label on screen which says "Click below to play sermon" it might be useable... but I am still left with the Security Warning about Active-X which I would like to avoid. We "power users" may not blink over that, but someone at an ad agency or casting site who is more artistic than gear-head may freak out.

Sorry. I'm just built that way. I almost signed up once for a college level course on how to deal with PERFECTIONISM.

I came across a site today that is using SoundCloud mechanism and on their site they are getting something like I want to achieve. I looked under the hood just enough to know I am going to need as much as half a day to work my way through testing that scheme. (some times I work on slow-time.)

I do appreciate what you provided, and I am going to dig deeper to see what attributes I may be able to specify that would affect the appearance and labeling of the code mechanism you provided.

Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:

I came across a site today that is using SoundCloud mechanism and on their site they are getting something like I want to achieve.

Click to expand...

Embedding from SoundCloud was going to be another suggestion. That or add a basic video component...text with name, e-mail, etc...and embed a file hosted at youtube.

What file format are you using for the audio files?

TheProToolsParadox said:

What file format are you using for the audio files?

Click to expand...

I assume mp3 is going to be used as part of any scheme or combination of schemes.

In testing the code you referred me to, I save the recording as both mp3 and ogg as the server seems to be asking the remote computer: "What browser are you using and based on the reply it will send the mp3 or it will send the ogg as appropriate... or sent the text message: Your browser does not seem to support the audio function."

Here are some sites that present audio demos in formats that appeal to me:

thenarrator.biz
voicebyscott.com
voiceoversandvocals.com

If I am going to a social event and I know every one there that I value will be wearing a suit-and-tie, I am NOT going to show up wearing ragged jeans and a flannel shirt with the tail hanging out.

The "folklore" of the voice-over crowd is that ad agencies, production houses, casting directors tend to be people who are pretty serious... not folks looking for presentations and resumes from people demonstrate that they are "wild hares".

I think my posts in this forum indicate that I can have a good time and I am not bashful about showing up for an informal social event (a thread if you please) wearing something a bit garish just for a good laugh.

That is NOT how I want my voice-over site and demo-presentation to appear.

If and when I get a good book-of-business flowing... you may see my GRC personality edge into the V-O site.... slightly.

Thanks for your help.

The easiest and most compatible (and accessible) way is to use direct "a href=" links to the audio files, as this not only accomodates people who won't (or aren't able to) use FLash, Javascripting or HTML 5, but it also enables them to use their own player software rather than tying them down to something server-side (this can be very, very risky especially in high-security installations.) If you just absolutely have to put a "special" player on the page, make it a secondary option--i.e. reserve it as a "last resort" for the few users who just can't figure out how to download an MP3 file and get it playing in Winamp/VLC. Forcing everybody to use "built-in" players is possibly one of the biggest, most grave mistakes Internet live streamers seem to be making these days (one of the reasons I'm glad there are things like Wireshark and text editors that can pull up bare HTML code.)

Example code: (Vorbis parts folded to avoid having them run off the end of the field.)

Active-X is old, obsolete Micro$haft-proprietary junk that almost nobody in their right mind would support. Don't even bother wasting your time and disk space on it! Like it or not, it's a Mozilla world now.

Also, never forget about your audiences who might be stuck using character-cell systems (yes, there are a lot more of those in use "out there" than the industry wants you to think), high-security browsers and blind people who use screen readers, none of which work with "interactive" functions like FLash or JS. Download Lynx (http://lynx.isc.org/) and test your pages in it alongside your present ensemble of graphic browsers.

Just my $2 worth.

"(this can be very, very risky especially in high-security installations.)"

Click to expand...

Clarification: tying users down to server-side players can be very, very risky, especially in high-security installations.

Darth_vader said:

If you just absolutely have to put a "special" player on the page, make it a secondary option--i.e. reserve it as a "last resort" for the few users who just can't figure out how to download an MP3 file and get it playing in Winamp/VLC. Forcing everybody to use "built-in" players is possibly one of the biggest, most grave mistakes Internet live streamers seem to be making these days (one of the reasons I'm glad there are things like Wireshark and text editors that can pull up bare HTML code.)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. But let me go back and re-enforce the task I have at hand.

I am not (in this project) trying to do streaming.

I am not trying to offer a file for download.

I am not trying to offer a file to someone with archaic software and machine limitations.

I am building a very specialized site to meet the demands and tastes of the "high flyers" who give a thumbs-up and a thumbs-down on who gets to record voice-over for radio stations, for book publishers, for corporation developing internal e-Learning materials, etc.

These are people who have a reputation for looking at your studio equipment list (and studio equipment pictures) to see if you have studio equipment that meets their high-caliber demands. (It would be beneath their dignity to accept recorded work produced on a Shure SM-58!)

These people work for ad agencies, for talent booking firms, for broadcast stations, for major corporations. If I were building a website for my family genealogy collection and I wanted to share audio with family members of all ages and all economic layers, I would be following your recipe with great enthusiasm. But the last thing I want to telegraph to the people I hope to attract to this site is a message that maybe I am not out on the "bleeding edge" of technology.

But.... I was wrong once before. ;D I am open to counsel on where I need to change my thinking.

GRC;

You nailed it,..if you're serious about the VO biz, web presence is a necessity...sure, you can link to your voice 123 page, or your your Facebook page, but to the "high flyers" GRC describes, it'll just make you small-time,..especially when there's thousands of guys & gals out there that have sharp looking sites and even though they might not be as good as you, they're going to be taken more seriously by agencies, casting agents..etc.

OK, now that my rant is over,..the players I use on my site are from www.podsnack.com..the skins might not be the best, but they can host you files, and the players are html5 friendly..

www.steveknightvo.com

TheProToolsParadox said:

Embedding from SoundCloud was going to be another suggestion. That or add a basic video component...text with name, e-mail, etc...and embed a file hosted at youtube.

What file format are you using for the audio files?

Click to expand...

Hey TheProToolsParadox... let me offer you an apology and an explanation.

As the thread has progressed, you have figured some of this out (about me) already.

Early on you provided good info on HTML5 but it flew over my head to some extent. I think if we could do genealogy and DNA all the say back, I have a little Leonardo DaVinci blood in me. I want to do everything. But there aren't enough hours in the day, and enough cells still alive in my brain. I tackle a subject/task, learn enough to conquer what I want right now, and move on. When I need to maintain what I created six months ago, I have to sometimes learn the topic again.

When you offered me help via HTML5, I wasn't ready to understand. I built my websites I maintain before "5" became fully grown. Since this thread began, I have converted a couple of sites to HTML5 and I have made several visits to the library and to the big-box book store. Bought a new book on the topic just yesterday and spotted another one I will probably buy on my next visit. (My wife has to limit how often I go there... if she wants any mad money left for HER binges and projects! ;D )

Here is my response to the earlier question you asked about "What was wrong with what I suggested to you?" Nothing was WRONG with it. My brain was not ready to comprehend it at the time. Based on what I have learned in the last couple of weeks, here is why I am continuing to wander among the fruit trees for the best answer.

Most authors today who write Internet articles and books on this topic of audio on the website picture a young audience sharing music discoveries with one another youthful person, and maybe trying program a bit of animation with gaudy, glorious sound effects. Sometimes they write more about how to create spectacular behavior "skins" for the visual part of the player than they do on how to reliably deliver the sound.

I am a mature (some would say ancient) person wanting to make a dignified presentation. Here is my worst-of-all-worlds scenario: I submit a presentation that I want to do a voice-over and I end up being one of 63 applicants. The agent/buyer/director turns the list of 63 over to an assistant with instructions to check out their websites and report back the top 5 based on the web sites. The assistant is half way to being ancient, has no patience with sites that require expertise in order to squeeze out the results. No matter what software the assistant is using, I would like MY audition to pop up with a player that works with ease and looks dignified while doing so. I don't want any messages popping up that say: "Your browser cannot present this audio. You will need to download by clicking here and using you own audio player". At this point the assisstant scratches my name off the list and mutters: "Next".

I will eventually settle for something less than perfect. This will take some time but I will probably end up with a reporting mechanism in my web site that tells me how often it appears the viewer gave up without listening, and tell me what browser they were using. If it turns out to be one out every 100 visits, I won't lose sleep over it. If one of every five attempts to hear my DEMO aborts, it will be back to the drawing board to improve the site.

Again, sorry I appeared to be dismissive of your original help. Going back and reading again a few times since I got up to speed (somewhat) on HTML5.... I now understand how on-target your suggestion was.

GRC

TheProToolsParadox said:

What file format are you using for the audio files?

Click to expand...

This question was overlooked in the big wordy response I just posted.

I have been putting both mp3 and ogg.vorbis out there. Since you don't normally change demos very often, I could go to the effort to put another one or two in there if it were necessary. Most of my research seems to indicate with these two most bases should be covered.

VODood said:

Goat Rodeo Cowboy.. FWIW.. one doesn't really need a website. Rarely is one booked from a site. With that said the website is to house demos and contact info so you can send links to agencies, etc.

Click to expand...

My research agrees with what you say. The web site does not find prospects and make the sale. Not having a web site today (no matter what your business or your product) is kind of like making sales calls in person and not having a business card to leave with the prospect, or the receptionist. It doesn't leave a good impression.

For several personal reasons I probably won't be on the Pay-to-Play sites. I am targeting "long form" voice work. Book narration. Corporate videos. E-Learning training materials. I may be wrong but I visualize the p-2-p sites more appropriate for people primarily seeking broadcast oriented work.