By Roger Weavers
If you are looking to add audio to your web site there is plenty of
choice regarding easy to use flash streaming audio software. I have
reviewed over 20 products and they are all fairly easy to use and
all cost less than $100. But there are some small differences to
these programs which could cause you problems if you make the wrong
choice. After reading this report you will be able to buy your
streaming audio software knowing you have made the right decision.
So hear are a few questions to ask yourself before you buy your
flash streaming audio software.
1. What is your audio going to consist of, voice, music?
2. How long is your audio going to be? 30 seconds? 30 hours?
3. How many visitors are you expecting on your web site per month?
4. Do you want your visitors to be able to download your mp3s?
5. What type of controls/buttons do you want?
6. Do you want to automatically add background music tracks?
7. can you edit the html on your web site?
I will go though each question to explain why this should affect
your decision.
1. Do you require HiFi sound, or you go to simply put your voice on
your site? The higher the quality the larger the file is going to
be. Only one product provides a HiFi option and that is
MP3 Sound Stream HiFi Audio Stream. Most other programs allow
you to select the quality of the audio.
2. Will you be using short voice tracks of a few minutes? If your
track is longer you will need a program that does not embed the mp3 file
into the Flash file (swf). Large swf files will take a long time to
load but if the mp3 is separate the button will load quickly and the
mp3 will start to stream almost instantaneously.
3. If you are using long audio tracks and have a high number of
visitors your hosting company may charge you for extra band width or
even cut off your web site. For example, if you have one audio track
of 30mb in size and you have 10,000 visitors listening to it this
would take 300gb of bandwidth. So if you are considering putting
large audio files on your site check with your hosting company
first. You may wish to consider using a subscription service like
Audio Generator as
this could work out cheaper than extra bandwidth charges.
4. If you want your visitors to be able to download your mp3 files
so they can listen to them later, on their computer or mp3 player,
then using a program that has the mp3 embedding in the flash
file means you will need to upload an extra copy of the mp3. Programs with
embedded mp3 files are useful if you DON'T what your visitors to
download your audio file.
5. Some programs supply a wide choice of button styles and colours,
other just give one button style. Make sure you are happy with the
styles available.
6. If you want to easily add background music some programs have
this built in. Other programs you will need to use audio editing
software to mix in the background music.
7. If you are using an online website builder or free blogging
service you may not be able to add audio to your web site. Check
with your provider to see if you can edit the html code and upload swf and mp3 files
Once you have considered all these questions take a look at the
comparison chart at WebsiteAudioReviews.com and you will find the
right streaming audio software for you.
www.websiteaudioreviews.com/compare.html
