So the stories are recorded, saved as MP3 format so now how do I make them available as a download at my website?
The basics please in ESL simple English terms please.
The basics please in ESL simple English terms please.
Making audio stories downloadable from website
- Thread starter pdr
- Start date
A couple of questions first.
Do you know how to upload a file to the server that hosts your webpage?
Do you want people to click a word to download the file, or an image? The image can be a button-looking thingy.
Do you know how to upload a file to the server that hosts your webpage?
Do you want people to click a word to download the file, or an image? The image can be a button-looking thingy.
You upload it as an mp3 file, just like any other file, and you post a link to it.
Let's see, there's an mp3 recording here:
http://musicalgearbox.com/prelude.mp3
You could post just that, though depending on where and how you post it it could just show up as text. Here on the forum, vbulletin sees the http thing, or rather the http:// thing and automatically turns it into a link. People can click it and it may download, or it may load directly into their mp3 playing software (after a delay for downloading) and play. They can right-click and "save as..." to save it on their computer.
You can make it a link with this HTML line:
<a href="http://musicalgearbox.com/prelude.mp3">An mp3 file</a>
and it shows as a link with the text "An mp3 file". That should work with most websites and blogs. It doesn't work here on AW because HTML in posts is turned off.
Let's see, there's an mp3 recording here:
http://musicalgearbox.com/prelude.mp3
You could post just that, though depending on where and how you post it it could just show up as text. Here on the forum, vbulletin sees the http thing, or rather the http:// thing and automatically turns it into a link. People can click it and it may download, or it may load directly into their mp3 playing software (after a delay for downloading) and play. They can right-click and "save as..." to save it on their computer.
You can make it a link with this HTML line:
<a href="http://musicalgearbox.com/prelude.mp3">An mp3 file</a>
and it shows as a link with the text "An mp3 file". That should work with most websites and blogs. It doesn't work here on AW because HTML in posts is turned off.
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Ummm...re: the site -- I hate to have to tell you this, but Flash navigation buttons are a terrible thing, and having no text content whatsoever on your index page is not very helpful either. It's good to see what-why-who as soon as possible. The Flash buttons are an inconvenience at best, and useless in some cases -- completely invisible, virtually non-existent. With no alternative, some visitors to your site will have no idea that there is more to the site than one page with a name and two trees. Even a "view source" command isn't helpful.
I suppose you haven't got too much choice in what you can do with it
Which brings up a more relevant-to-the-thread question: What about limitations in space and bandwidth? MP3s are pretty chunky, even when frugally optimized. If your allotments are meager, success could be a problem.
Yeah, I know, Little Miss Brightside all over.
I suppose you haven't got too much choice in what you can do with it
Which brings up a more relevant-to-the-thread question: What about limitations in space and bandwidth? MP3s are pretty chunky, even when frugally optimized. If your allotments are meager, success could be a problem.Yeah, I know, Little Miss Brightside all over.
Ah!
Alleycat, my son-in-law, the IT prof, has just offered to do this, he will add another page specially for podcasts. He can do all the fancy stuff. I was thinking of clicking on an image, but might use words! Need to see the layout first.
So all I need to do is make a good recording and save it as an MP3 file then?
Ben, you lost me but thank you, and Son-in-law will be with it!
Alleycat and Ben, since MtheM thinks that MP3 is a bad format, what do you think would be better? I think it might be fortunate that I haven't the faintest idea what she is complaining about otherwise!
Alleycat, my son-in-law, the IT prof, has just offered to do this, he will add another page specially for podcasts. He can do all the fancy stuff. I was thinking of clicking on an image, but might use words! Need to see the layout first.
So all I need to do is make a good recording and save it as an MP3 file then?
Ben, you lost me but thank you, and Son-in-law will be with it!
Alleycat and Ben, since MtheM thinks that MP3 is a bad format, what do you think would be better? I think it might be fortunate that I haven't the faintest idea what she is complaining about otherwise!
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Mp3 are pretty much the best size / quality efficient format out there. You can get smaller files with, say wma but, the quality will be worse.
128kbps mp3's take roughly 1mb per minute. At least, they do for me when I use Audacity.
128kbps mp3's take roughly 1mb per minute. At least, they do for me when I use Audacity.
Yeah, mp3's aren't "bad," I think the warning was about file size in general. Audio (and video) files of any format tend to be larger than other files, and the 1 megabyte per minute of audio is a good measure for high quality, though with mono voice you can get away with a LITTLE bit lower bitrate, maybe as low as 96kbps which results in files about 3/4 the size as 128k. Too low a bitrate and it starts to sound like it's underwater, the "s" sounds become annoying, and it gets hard to listen to.