June 05, 2004
Flash: Great use
Recently, a good friend of mine joined a new band and so I went to their website to check out some sample tracks, which are hosted on purevolume.com. And lo and behold, they have a small flash mp3 player to preview the songs (separate downloads available as well).
So you might say big deal, I've seen that. Well, I have as well but it's few and far between. I know it's a small detail, but one that in my opinion matters a good deal. I hate when sites try to use Media Player, or Real Player, or even Quicktime. It's annoying an unnecessary bulk for playing a song. Flash is not great for everything, but this is one area in which it shines. Everyone already has the player, so use it!
As for the flash mp3 player itself, it's pretty well done. It doesn't do anything you don't tell it to do, like start to play automatically for example. There is no volume control, but that's livable. Some of the play controls do not have the expected behavior, but again, far better than the hassle of external players. You can also open the player as a popup to listen to the tracks while browsing elsewhere.
Now if only we can get sites to start using Flash and flvs for movie trailers, but that's another post.
* On a side note, good music and good luck to Jevin and MuchTheSame.
Recently, a good friend of mine joined a new band and so I went to their website to check out some sample tracks, which are hosted on purevolume.com. And lo and behold, they have a small flash mp3 player to preview the songs (separate downloads available as well).So you might say big deal, I've seen that. Well, I have as well but it's few and far between. I know it's a small detail, but one that in my opinion matters a good deal. I hate when sites try to use Media Player, or Real Player, or even Quicktime. It's annoying an unnecessary bulk for playing a song. Flash is not great for everything, but this is one area in which it shines. Everyone already has the player, so use it!
As for the flash mp3 player itself, it's pretty well done. It doesn't do anything you don't tell it to do, like start to play automatically for example. There is no volume control, but that's livable. Some of the play controls do not have the expected behavior, but again, far better than the hassle of external players. You can also open the player as a popup to listen to the tracks while browsing elsewhere.
Now if only we can get sites to start using Flash and flvs for movie trailers, but that's another post.
* On a side note, good music and good luck to Jevin and MuchTheSame.
