Thread: Sound file not playing

I have just updated my home page and added a sound file (mp3 via windows media player). The file plays in preview, and has uploaded correctly, but when I go online just a grey box is displayed. I have checked on my laptop and the media player displays ok and the file plays. I have tried playing around with IE security settings etc. but no joy. Can't get the sound file to display on this computer at all.

It is expected that you provide a URL to the website in question as outlined in and required by Forum protocol 'How To Ask For Assistance' so your issue can be reviewed properly to determine the specific solution.

Whoops! Sorry.
URL is www.steelbonnet.net and the problem occurs on the page www.steelbonnet.net/home.html
Further to my original post, I have noticed that although the problematic element is in media player, online it appears with a quicktime logo. Don't really understand that.

I suspect that the problem may be with my computer settings (running windows7 64-bit) but having tried changing all security settings and making sure the site is on the trusted sites list, I still can't get the audio to play.

I am seeing an area on the page as if that's where you intended the Player to be (upper-right), but it is not showing nor is the file playing (and I have various Players capable of playing anything, believe me).

If the file playes on the computer you uploaded the file to the server withn, or originally published the page using, I suspect that is because it is actually playing the file locally, and not from the server (otherwise the controller would show on the published page universally).
Are you sure you extracted the WinZip (compressed) file on the server?
Did your server undergo a migration/upgrade as did so many others? If so, you may need to re-publish the page to the new server/IP, making sure you are carefully following the steps outlined in the Tutorial.

Using different systems with different settings and software may be an issue as well: if possible, try to keep your Publishing limited to the same computer always, and preferrably on one that runs XP over Win7 (still some issues not perfectly resolved, IMO). You systems may have different default Player settings, or one may need upgrading. Many different angles to inspect ... but since I am not seeing the player control on your published page, I tend to focus on thinking you may have not used the proper "box" to link/list the file on your page, or that the file is not properly formatted.


* The player will default on your web page as a simple bar-control if it is an audio file only, and this is always preferred so to offer Visitors control over volume, playback, etc. You can also provide a link to a universal, free MP3/MP4 player called FinalPlayer which Visitors could download if they don't have an updated Media player on their system, or at least have one that supercedes Windows Media Player or Quicktime separately.

Thanks for this. I will continue to investigate the problem along your suggested lines. Will post when resolved.

REMINDER!
If your file is MP3 format, you will need to update Windows Media File to version 10 or later to be able to configure it to default as your MP3 player, otherwise Quicktime will automatically substitute, and many simply do not have current versions of Quicktime on their system.

Hello Vasili
Here's an odd thing.
I republished the offending page, and it all displayed properly on the Vista machine I use to manage my website, on my son's Windows7 desktop, but not on my recently purchased Windows7 desktop, which would not display or play the sound file.
I downloaded Firefox on this machine and found that the web page was fine in Firefox.
I played around with security settings, re-set Internet Explorer, made sure that program defaults were set correctly, but with no success. Then I stumbled on the answer.
I discovered that the fault occurred only when I connected to the internet via the IE shortcuts on my desktop and taskbar. When I created a direct shortcut from my site on my desktop, the page including sound file loaded perfectly.
I deleted the IE shortcuts and recreated them from within program files and, Voila! Everything is now hunk dory!
Seems odd to me, but the problem obviously was with this computer.
I think the reason you couldn't see the sound file may be something to do with the fact that I had tried publishing the page from this computer to see if it would solve the fault, and the upload hadn't worked correctly.
Anyway, all is well now.
Thanks for your help
Simon U.

Popped in for a quick minute and saw this ...

Simon - I cannot address Windows7 issues because I have successfully avoided using it even until now, despite the disparaging comments from other "Generals" herein that swear by it .... truth be told, Win7 is the primary source of many issues regarding BlueVoda, and personally I can attest to more "solutions" being provided to overcome the quirks many Users experience trying to stablize BV Publishing, IE rendering, or Features properly operating (LightShow, transparancies, shadows, etc.).

If you published your pages oroginally on XP and are modifying them/updating on Win7, this might be something of an issue, as well as the differences in configuring your browsers (IE and FF both behave differently on each OS).

Tinker arround with this rumbling through your head until tommorrow when I can return with a more lucid and better composed reply? Been up for 41 hours now, and fading fast ...