The NMP Network

[ad#rssannouncer]
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to our first episode of 2009! Last week, we wrapped up our Phases of Podcasting Series and will begin the new year with some individual training and will prepare for our next big series, Bridging The Gap Between Mediums. This new series will take us through the three big mediums, Audio, Video and Blogging, and will show you how to convert your listeners to readers, readers to viewers, well, you get the idea I think. That series will begin soon, so I will keep you posted!

Tonight, we will talk about using audio on your web sites or blogs. By using audio, I am talking about embedding a flash audio or an MP3 by using a special flash converter program or by using a special plugin for Wordpress, such as the BluBrry Player, that will allow you to let your visitors or readers play back your audio easily.

To begin with, we will discuss using flash on your web site or blog. Using flash will not only enable you to embed your audio, but it will allow you to easily stream large audio files without the visitor or reader having to wait a long time for the file to download before they can begin to enjoy it.

How do you get an audio file into a flash format? The best way to do this, is to use a flash converter program, such as Web Audio Plus, that will take a .WAV or .MP3 formatted audio file and with a couple of clicks of the mouse, you can choose the player style and then the program not only gives you the embed code, but will encode the flash file for you to upload to your site and let your visitors start using it right away!

Now, if you are using Wordpress, the self hosted version, then you can add a plugin for podcasting such as the one from BluBrry, that will enable you to upload your MP3 file or actually just add the http line to the player and it will stream it from another source. For example, when I want to add the audio file to my show notes, I use the BluBrry Player and add the http line that directs the player to stream from the Talkshoe download location. In this way, I don’t have to worry about uploading the file to another location or worry about hosting an additional file somewhere else, as the BluBrry plugin will automatically use the http line that I entered to pull this file from whatever location I have entered into it. The file must be in an MP3 format for the player to work correctly in this fashion. Some audio plugins will also stream a video in the same fashion, so check with your plugin that you are using before attempting this to insure that it will work properly for you.

Now, if you are using Talkshoe to record your MP3 file and you want to use it in a flash format, you will need to download the MP3 file to your PC and then convert it and then upload the new flash files and install the embed code to your site or blog. Otherwise, you will need a microphone hooked up to your PC’s soundcard and you will need something like the free audio editor called Audacity so that you can record your files and then export them to either a WAV or MP3 format. If you use the MP3 format, then you can easily upload this file to your site and use the Wordpress plugin to stream it or with the WAV or MP3 format, you can convert either of these to flash using the Web Audio Plus software. I might mention that this software is for PC’s only, so sorry Mac people! I’m sure that there is a similar program available for Mac to convert audio to a flash format. Again, since I’m not a Mac, I don’t have any suggestions for this but I’m sure someone knows of one somewhere!

Another way to use audio on your site or blog is to record a short 1 or 2 minute greeting that you can embed near the top of your main page. Put a note there for your visitors or readers to press play in order to hear a special message from you. This will give your site or blog a personal touch. Don’t make this audio play automatically however, as this will tend to annoy repeat visitors and may even drive them away! This type of audio should always be voluntary and not forced onto your visitors or readers.

Embedding an audio file doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be voice only. If you have a site that features music from Indie Artists or even your own music, you can feature this kind of music files in the same way as the audio files. Just make sure that the music you are featuring is either your own, podsafe music or you have the proper licensing to play the music. In this way, you will keep yourself from being fined for playing licensed music.

Wrapping up, adding audio files to your web site or blog doesn’t have to be a big chore or take a rocket scientist to make it work. With the plugins available for Wordpress nowadays, and the flash technology for converting audio files easily, there is no reason why you can’t do it too!

If you have a PC and are interested in obtaining Web Audio Plus, you can pickup your own copy at The Personal Publisher!

Related articles by Zemanta

• How To – Move From WordPress.com To WordPress.org

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags: Audio file format, MP3, Multimedia, Music and Audio, Uploading and downloading, WAV, Website, wordpress