Auto-playing sound is one of the most hated features of an website
Seconded. Think of all those folks in offices having a quiet surf between tasks - and suddenly music blares out of the laptop speakers! Even at home, nothing makes me hit the back button faster than background music on a website. (Well, that and tasteless porn!)
Until you are published my personal recommendation would be to start with a blog.
Although a "dead" blog is equally little use - a huge percentage of blogs are never updated once the initial enthusiasm has worn off.
I would say that if you know what name you are going to publish under, register some version of that as a domain name and get a site up with some basic content relevant to your writing, so that you start racking up Google rankings - mine has been online for over five years, making me the top hit on my name
If you want to play the social media game, plan your strategy. Or just start a blog about something related to your genre or main topic. As an unpublished writer, it's unlikely to be of much use in promoting you (unless you are a brilliant blogger), but on the other hand, if you leave it until your book is published, that's too late.
