Chapter 19. Audio on the Web
Simple audio files found their way onto the Web in its earliest days. The problem with audio is that the files are generally quite large and may take a prohibitively long time to download. The introduction of streaming audio (files that play while they download) finally made quality audio and even live broadcasts distributed via web pages a reality.
Obviously, audio, even specialized for the Web, is a rich and complex topic that cannot be thoroughly treated in a single chapter of a Nutshell reference book. If you are interested in reading about all the ins and outs of creating professional-quality audio for a web site, there are many books that provide in-depth looks at developing audio for the Web (see the bibliography at the end of this chapter). There are also some fine tutorials in the multimedia section of the WebMonkey site (http://www.webmonkey.com/).
If you need to put professional-quality audio on your site, consider outsourcing the work to professionals, or bring in a consultant to help you get set up properly.
This chapter provides an overview of basic audio terminology and file formats as well as an introduction to the many options for adding audio to a web site.
Copyright Issues
Like images, there are a number of sources for acquiring audio files to use on a web site. Be aware, however, simply posting somebody else’s music or recordings from a CD is a copyright violation. Record companies and entertainment corporations are taking measures ...
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