e-Business-Formula Internet Marketing Discussion Forum

[Kevin Robb]

Audio has certainly changed the way we look at websites in recent times, the ability to offer a personal message or describe your product to your visitors clearly is beneficial.

Pasting an audio button on your page is simple enough...but what about recording the audio message initially...there are some many different options available

What would you recommend that is suitable for the average user that comes at a one off cost or even free.

We are not looking for a full blown sound studio here, just somthing sensible that can be used to record and play simple messages

Royalty free music is available to spice things up if needed.

So let's get your comment, feel free to add your URL as well if you currently have audio on your site.

Cheers

Kevin Robb

[Steve MacLellan]

Hi Kevin,

I find [url=http://audacity.sourceforge.net/]Audacity[/url] easy to use, and great for editing and recording audio files.

If you just want to make an intro for your site you might want to take a look at Satyajeet Hattangadi [url=http://www.novasoft-inc.com/ebook.asp]free ebook[/url] that gives you the code to add flash buttons to your site to play mp3 files. In the eBook he tells you how you can make the mp3 files using the built in Windows Sound Recorder.

I know mp3 has become a popular sound format, but if you were going to put on anything longer then a short intro, you might want to consider using a different type of audio format. Mp3 files tend to be very large, and people who are trying to access your files from a dial up connection won't be able to download a large file fast enough to have it stream properly for them.

With a 56K connection it has been said that 13MB per hour is possible, but I've never had a dial-up connection that gave me over 10.

I recently had to encode a seminar and make it available on the web, and the total time of the portion to be accessible on the web was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Since the audio is voice... it doesn't have to be top quality. Encoding it using Real Audio I was able to make the file size small enough so there wasn't any interruptions in the stream even for those using a poor 56K dial-up connection.

The owner of the website had first asked for Mp3, but that was because she was unaware of other formats. And of course it is saving her tons of money on extra bandwidth charges too. It doesn't take too long to chew up your alloted bandwidth if you're trying to stream an Mp3 file that is 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

So... if it is just a quick intro to your site, the Mp3 is likely fine. If it is going to be any length of audio, other formats may be more suitable for you.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan

[Kevin Robb]

Hi Steve,

I will check out your suggestions.

I have come across one that seems very complete MP3Soundstream

The claim is that you can produce Streaming Audio with just a few clicks.

They also use Audacity as part of their package.

You might want to take a look and pass comment as to it's versatility as a complete package.

Cheers

Kevin Robb