* Why embedded music is a bad idea
I heartily dislike music that as it is embedded in most Web sites. The idea of using music on a Web site is theoretically good; it should give the site a sort of cinematic quality. Unfortunately, that presumes the user experience of the Web is like that of television or the movies, something that we know is not even remotely true.
The fact is that the Web is more like reading a book or a magazine (actually now that there is so much animated and video content it rather reminds me of the animated newspapers that you see in the Harry Potter movies). Here’s why I think embedded music is a bad idea:
1. It usually starts playing automatically (MySpace is amazingly annoying in this regard).
2. It is usually too loud.
3. It is usually music in a style that makes me want to stab myself in the eye with my pencil.
4. I usually have music on while I work so I wind up with clashing soundtracks which ruin my carefully constructed groove.
But, that said, if you allow the user to choose when the music plays and the music is being offered for itself or in some obviously relevant context and not as wallpaper then we’ve moved into, in my humble opinion, a valid and acceptable use.
So what are you going to use to present your audio and also video content should you have grokked your context? You might consider the Wimpy products published by plaino.
Wimpy offers Flash-based streaming audio and video players that can be hosted on any Web server and doesn’t require Quicktime, Windows Media Player or RealPlayer.
The Wimpy MP3 Player plays a file selected from a list and can be skinned to present either a conventional Windows user interface or a more GUIs — one of the GUIs supplied looks a lot like an iPod. There’s also the Wimpy Button that plays a single file.
Wimpy AV Players are for delivering video content. The Wimpy AV Player can play an entry in a playlist while Wimpy Wasp plays a single selection and both, in common with the Wimpy MP3 Player, can be skinned.
The video players use the Flash Video format (FLV) and the site contains instructions on how to convert other formats to the FLV format.
Even better, the Wimpy products have extensive customization tools such as the Skin Machine for creating custom skins, a voting system for users to rate player contents, and a podcast RSS feed generator.
The Wimpy Player and the Wimpy Video products are priced at $29.95 and the company offers several bundles that include significant discounts on the individual products.
These are very cool products and if you do use them please, don’t make any content play without warning — I might be in a groove with my own sounds. Man.
