From: email@hidden
Subject: Audio for website advice
I'd like some advice about putting audio on a website. The content
is a
series of interviews, each about 3-6 minutes. The intended audience
is not
likely to have the most recent hardware/software, nor the fastest
connections. As might be expected, a significant number of them
will be
Windows users.
I'm wondering about what choices to offer (QuickTime, Real, etc.),
what
codec to use (AAC, MP3, etc.), and what bit rate for that content and
audience.
It depends who your audience is, and where they are.
There is no perfect solution. You might want to run your own test.
Encode a few files both in MP3 and in AAC.
Try mono, and a 24, 32, and 40 kbps bit rates.
It sounds like some of your audience will be on modems, so you
probably don't want to go over 40 kbps.
Then determine which compressed files sound "good enough" to you.
If you are happy with the 32 kbps MP3, that's probably all you need
to offer. It may be "sloppy" but you can just make an "HREF" to the
mp3 file, and let the client's browser figure out how to play it.
If the AAC sounds much better, then you may want to offer both
encodings, and specify QuickTime as the AAC client, writing the html
accordingly.
Everyone here will probably offer different advice...
Frank Fulchiero
Digital Media Specialist
Connecticut College
