mp3's on webpage

They have: 2 posts

Joined: Jan 2001

I would like to use mp3's on my page, but they take so long for someone to download. Is there something I can do to them so they take less download time.?

Ken

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

Joined: Aug 2000

hey k.l.druce, and welcome to TWF!

I can only think of two ways to decrease download time for your visitors:
1) ZIP the mp3's
2) buy everyone cable modems Laughing out loud

I'm guessing the second isn't viable....

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

They have: 334 posts

Joined: Dec 1999

The second is as viable as the first, just a lot more expensive. Zipping .mp3 files is a waste of time and energy. The .mp3 format is already so greatly compressed that zipping saves only about 1%. About the only thing to do to make sure that download times are as short as possible to to check the file quality and bitrate. If the .mp3s are encoded at anything over 160kbps, you can re-encode them to use a lower bitrate, thus cutting file size and saving download time. Similarly, if the material is spoken-word like comedy or TV/Radio shows, you might be able to get away with something like 64kbps, 22,050hz sampling rate and mono instead of 128/44.1/stereo. That's about all you can do. Big files take a long time to download on a slow modem and there's nothing to do on your end to make things faster.

They have: 2 posts

Joined: Jan 2001

I thank both of you for your input. Should you notice a sharp increase in the value of Sony stocks, you'll know I chose the second option.

Thanks again for your replies.

Ken

They have: 383 posts

Joined: Sep 2000

You may also want to look into RealAudio depending on your intent for the content.

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