Audio Player WordPress plugin automatically adds audio player to posts
February 25, 2008 – 3:41 pm | by Miriam SchwabAmazingly, I have never had to deal with podcast or audio files before in a WordPress blog or site. But a recent client needed a way to easily and attractively add mp3 files to her posts.
At first I tried the Podcasting plugin, but I didn’t have much luck. Then I tried the Audio Player Wordpress plugin, which worked great - it’s easy to activate and configure, and isn’t complicated for the blog owner to use.
There are various ways to use it, but here’s the way that I like best:
- Upload and activate the plugin.
- Go to Options > Audio Player.
- Under where it says “How do you want to use the audio player?” select the second option: Enclosure integration (for podcasters). This option detects if there is a link to an MP3 file in your post, and automatically adds a player for that file to the end of the post.
There are a few advantages to this format:
- You don’t have to set up a special folder for the audio files. You don’t really have to for the other options either, but if you don’t you make the user’s life a bit more difficult.
- The user doesn’t have to remember to use any types of brackets or code
- The post can include a flash player and a download link, so that people have the choice to listen the file online or offline. The other options that the plugin offers take the link and create a flash player from them, which means there isn’t a link to download the podcast.
Here’s an example: I really like this song by Yael Naim, an Israeli singer, which was used in the new Macbook Air commercial. You can download the link by right-clicking on Yael’s name above, or enjoy the song here in my snazzy new audio player (I hope).
16 Responses to “Audio Player WordPress plugin automatically adds audio player to posts”
By Low on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Hi Miriam, been a reader for a while. So I can see Audio Player plug in works in your blog, but it didn’t in my friend’s blog. It always gets error whenever it buffers the file. Do you have some special treatment on this plug in? Well, i didn’t get much luck either using podpress
By Miriam Schwab on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
@Low - Nice to meet you! I didn’t have to do anything special to the plugin to get it to work here or on the client’s site. Your friend’s problem could be related to their server, or maybe even their version of WordPress.
By Jacques on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Right-clicking\Save target as in the mail does work - clicking on it, my browser opens, but it hangs… most likely because I see ‘%20′ in the url (spaces, that is).
Always replace spaces with ‘-’ or ‘_’ - XP works with spaces in file names now (previous versions didn’t; not sure about OSx), but URL’s do not.
Nice song indeed - completely ‘renewed my soul’ :-)
By Miriam Schwab on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Jacques - I know there are spaces in the URL. It’s a file that’s sitting elsewhere, so I don’t have control over it. But it fills in the spaces with %20 symbols, as you said, so it’s weird that it hangs. Does the flash player work?
By low on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Hi Miriam, thanks for the reply. What i know is it take so long to buffer files whether i use podpress or audio player. For podpress, the song plays while in Audio Player it always end with error. Maybe the host is the problem, i don’t know. Anyhow, great plugin though, many times i only need to play MP3s instead of configuring complex podcast plugin. I will try figuring out again later. In the mean time, i simply put a link to media player, and that solves the song playing problem. Thanks for writing and share your knowledge.
By Jacques on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Sorry, false alarm - I was too fast - it didn’t load in Flash, but in Quicktime-plugin which took quite a while to load (instead of buffering), so my screen remained blank and nothing happened for 2 (?) minutes - then it opened correctly!
By Internet Marketing Toolbox on Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
Hey Miriam - that little plugin is an oldie… but a goodie!
On another note, this comment field - with the visual HTML formatting options available - actually causes my Safari (mac) browser to crash. I wonder if is presenting problems to other users? Can it be turned off at your end?
Great blog BTW - some excellent info here!
Cheers
Stephen Spry
By Miriam Schwab on Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
Hi Stephen - glad you like the blog!
Thanks for telling me about the crashing problem. I just upgraded the plugin - can you tell me if it’s still causing Safari to crash?
If it is, I can definitely turn it off.
By Internet Marketing Toolbox on Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
Hey Miriam
I’m still getting the same result - safari mac (v1.3.2) browser dies… Tried to open it another three times - same result!
I just turned javascript off in the browser, and it opened perfectly - so whatever is causing the problem is one of the javascript routines.
The only thing I can really see that might be doing it would be the TinyMCE Javascript Content Editor… renowned for causing problems with Safari according to a recent search through Google
If you’d like to turn that off just to see if that’s causing the problem, I’d be happy to let you know the outcome.
Cheers
Stephen
By Miriam Schwab on Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
Hi Stephen - I deactivated the plugin. Can you tell me if your browser is still crashing? Thanks!
By Internet Marketing Toolbox on Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
Fixed it - this reply from Safari.
So the question, with any sort of plug-in that causes browser problems, is whether the extra “functionality” it provides is worth causing hassles for a minority of your readers?
With this example, is it essential that commenters need visual editing facilities? Probably not
Stephen
By Miriam Schwab on Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
Stephen - thanks for helping me test out the plugin. I really liked this plugin, because I know that I personally find it useful to be able to click a button to add a link rather than write the whole link tag and possibly forget a quotation mark somewhere.
However, in my opinion if something ruins the user experience for even two users, it’s not worth using. So unfortunately, I’ll have to say goodbye to this plugin for now.
By Gerald Walker on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
How do you install the plugin? Is wordpress some type of software you have to download then add the plugin. I have a mac and signed up from the website. Im have bit a trouble getting my flash player to work.
Thanks
By Miriam Schwab on Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Hi Gerald - did you sign up at WordPress.com? If so, that’s the hosted version of WordPress, which means that you cannot add plugins and can only use the features that they have there. Plugins are for the self-hosted version of WordPress, which means that you download the WordPress hosting software and install it on your own server. Then, you have a lot more control over the appearance of the blog, and features that can be added with code or plugins.
I hope that helps!
By Pablo DiCiacco on Mar 29, 2008 | Reply
Between the time you posted this praise and now, Firefox has been updated resulting in the player now not playing files when used with Firefox. It works with IE7, but most savvy surfers use Firefox. Please contact the creator of this plugin and urge them to update it.