VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:26 pm Post subject: Need a New Player

I had been using the Yahoo Player on my website demo page because it was one of the only ones I had found that used HTML5, not Flash, and was free, and did not require me to insert a separate player interface on the page. It just superimposed a little arrow over each of the ten individual mp3s that are resident on the page.

Unfortunately, the Yahoo player is no more. They've apparently discontinued it, so now I need to replace it, ideally with something that functions in a similar fashion. If I have to add a "Play" button to each line of code that represents one of the demos (like the Wimpy button, which I believe is Flash, not HTML5), that's OK, but I'd rather not have a whole separate playlist window open up if I can avoid it.

Any recommendations?
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
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Jason Huggins · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:56 am Post subject:

Are you using WordPress?

Dennis Allen · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:39 am Post subject:

I use HTML5 as my player. It works with all the latest browsers and was simple enough for me (I'm html code-challenged). Depending upon the browser, you get a slightly different look, but all function the same way. I also utilized html5 for video, but I've encountered issues with Firefox.

Here is an instructional page I used as a base. http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_sounds.asp

My site link is http://dallenvo.com/ so you can see/listen to how it functions.

chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

Lee, have a look at this page:

http://chrisvo.co/help/lee/demo-demo.html

I took the source of your demo page, then added a blurb at the top - a bit of stylesheet, a bit of javascript - to go through each anchor tag (the <a> things) and look for any that have mp3 in the uri. For each that matches that criteria, the html5 audio element is inserted after the existing audio link.

Any that don't have mp3 are left alone.

This is good cross-browser: any non-html5 compliant browser simply ignores it. You can test this with an older browser or, in the case of IE, by hitting F12, then choosing an older version to impersonate.

So, have a look at the top of the source. Making it work in your page is simply a matter of copying everything between my "START PLAYER INSERTION" and "END PLAYER INSERTION" comments, and pasting it right into the top of your demo page.

What this means is, if you change links or add new ones, you don't do anything different than what you've always done. No special work necessary for you!

Any questions, please lemme know.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:09 am Post subject:

Jason, not using WordPress.

Dennis, nice clean look (and nice demo) but it wouldn't play on my Android phone; pressing the play arrow caused the file to download. Then I could play the downloaded file. And using straight html5 code would require me to make ogg versions of all my mp3 files so they would play on Firefox and older Opera browsers.

I appreciate the information.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

georgethetech · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:10 am Post subject:

Why not SoundCloud?
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Bruce · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:45 am Post subject:

The only problems with SoundCloud I've found so far is they occasionally go down so your demos are out of commission then (doesn't happen a lot but it does happen) and you're forced to use their styles of players which may or may not suit your design. Otherwise, they're fine.

B
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I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

DougVox · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:40 pm Post subject:

Another potential SoundCloud issue:

Make sure that after your demo ends, the SoundCloud player doesn't offer other tracks to the listener with their "Play Another Track" suggestions.

Not all SC players have this at the end of each track, but some do, and I've listened to demos on a talent's site, only to have SoundCloud let me listen to other voice talent demos right there on the original talent's site.

Not. Good.

PS. The demos on my site are SoundCloud-based, but have been somewhat customized, so they don't look exactly the same as the stock SoundCloud player.
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todd ellis · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:05 pm Post subject:

hi lee - the plain old html5 player here todd123.com plays on my android devices.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:31 pm Post subject:

Chris, thanks for going o all the trouble to mark up a sample. I believe that is the same player that Dennis referred to. It works great in Chrome but not in Firefox or on my Android devices. However, Todd's sample, which I think uses the same player, works everywhere. His has the ogg duplicates of the mp3 files, which I know will make the demos play in Firefox, but I wonder if that is also what makes them work on the Androids. I assume so, but there's one sure way to find out.

As to Soundcloud, Bruce is exactly right. None of their customization options that I'm aware of will let me create a player with the right appearance. And if there's a way to get Soundcloud files to play without opening a separate window, knowledge of how to make that happen is above my pay grade.

But again, thanks for all the input and suggestions.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

chrisvoco · Club 300 Joined: 14 Mar 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Local

No problem. The issue with FireFox playing mp3 files is OS-dependent and FF version-dependent: if a suitable mechanism is available, it uses it. Works like a peach here on FF, and my broken-down Android phone. This wasn't the case for a period - later versions of FF are okay, because they will use whatever is provided by the OS to handle decoding.

The other fairly easy way to go is to take your pick of (most of them free) players to offer html5 audio element where supported, a flash substitute where not, and just a link where neither.

For the backstory on the tapdancing, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4923136/why-doesnt-firefox-support-mp3-file-format-in-audio
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Finally, Ford stops starting to say things and starts.