Thread: How to make my music files downloadable.

How can I make my own songs in mp3 residing on my website downloadable for anybody?

Thanks.

You are currently using various formats that are not able to be downloaded or copied by visitors, such as Flash for Videos ....

If you were to convert whichever videos you select for general (universal) sharing to a WMV or AVI file, visitors could themselves right-click and SAVE TARGET AS to their own hard drive.

To share an MP3 file, it would have to be available as a complete, linked file (not via a player) that is distributable (not just playable), as in needing a distribution method - as in shopping cart.

If you wish to provide paid downloads, you would need to incoprporate a shopping cart script onto your Blue Voda created website, or (and the better suggestion, IMO) opt to link to a shopping cart in another directory of your account where you have loaded Soholaunch, osCommerce, ZEN, or CUBE cart via Fantastico! (in your VodaHost Account Control Panel) for free that all allow digital downloads/delivery. It could be as simple as a 1 or 2 page shopping cart .... whatever is needed to get your goods into the consumer's hands easily, right?

Use FTP Manager to upload your mp3 files. You might want to put them in a folder named "music" or such. Then you link to them (text or image) like this: http (etc) www yoursite.com/music/songtitle1.mp3, for each song.

Thanks, Tom, but I meant downloading, not uploading... (That has been done, my music is safely residing in my FTP, and plays in WMA and Quicktime players - as well as an embedded flash player - on my pages. Regular mp3 format.)
What I actually mean is a file-download by a user (better yet: a file transfer from my site to his C:drive - peer-to-peer file share, like say Shareaza/Kazaa).
PG

Right, sorry. If you post an mp3 as a text link you can inform your viewers they can down load by right clicking and choosing 'save link as" or equivalent.

(I realize that's not elegant!)

That should work to some extent - but still not a formal file transfer, I'm afraid.
I'm still looking for an answer to that, especially because I'll want it to become a pay-for download at some point. And that should work on the same technical principle.
Thanks anyway!

See post #2 above.

You can set digital downloads "Free" to begin with, and later establish a price if you desire ...

Welcome back Vasili,

(Your post has disappeared for a while - now it has returned...)

The videos - we can leave them out now. (But thanks for the info. I'm using .swf files on a WM Player.)
And - at the moment - I didn't want to use the shopping cart method because the setup of my pages. That is, say, you're viewing a visual/music page, the music is playing and you decide that you want it - it's free. There should be a simple (?) method offering a download link on the page for that music file. In some format - I don't know.
How? (An option to the shopping-cart distribution method).
Think of Kazaa of old.

You need a downloader script, that is, a script that will force the download instead of opening the player.

Thanks Navaldesign,

Any suggestion how to handle a downloader script?(What is it...?
Does it relate to the "shopping cart?)

Originally Posted by navaldesign

You need a downloader script, that is, a script that will force the download instead of opening the player.

Yes ... exactly why I mentioned a 'distributable' method .... much easier for Users to deal with simply adding a full-blown, pre-written and ready-to-go feature such as a free shopping cart to install rather than wrap their heads around installing and administrating a script or series of scripts as an added element to their BV websites.

Sometimes too much technical know-how is more than overkill, it is simply unwanted.

Gabor mentions the possibility of eventual evolution to paid downloads, so why not simply start with a cart from the beginning, one that can be set for free at first and then later with a price for each???

If the "look and feel" of the cart is sooooo much of an issue, there are so many choices of templates available that already come close to what his site looks like that by the time comes to really develop his cart, his customization skills will have intersected with his overall intention and it will not be an issue!

IMO

Create a page with the download links. The links should have this format:
download.php?id=1
download.php?id=2
etc,
where 1, 2 ........ n are integer numbers each one corresonding to each of the files that you want to allow download.
Then, create a php file with this code:

Code:
<?php
error_reporting(0);
$folder = "strangefoldername"; // This is the folder where your files are, make its name rather strange like "hJ68bkG9"
$file[1]= "filename1.mp3";
$file[2]= "filename2.mp3";
$file[3]= "filename3.mp3";
// Add as many as necessary
$file_name = $file[intval($_GET['id'])];
$file_path= $folder."/".$file_name;
$file_type = filetype($file_path);
$data = file_get_contents($file_path);
$file_size = strlen($data);
header("Pragma: public");
header('Expires: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT');
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header("Content-type: Application/ $file_type");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$file_name");
header("Content-Description: Download PHP");
header("Content-Length: $file_size");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
echo $data;
?>

Copy the code in Notepad, Save As, select File Type: All files, and save as download.php. Of course, you need to change the first lines to include the real filenames.
This code will "read" the file and output it to the browser as download.
Please note that this script will fail if the stat() function is disabled (VH usually has it enabled)
If that is the case, the script should include a second array with the MIME filetypes of the files. test and we can see

Thank you, Gentlemen!

So, I will accept your approach - both...

To Navaldesign: huh?...
To Vasili: your point is valid, I'll try the *%#!! shopping cart...

What does "huh" mean ?

Try Soholaunch .... more 'User-Friendly' for first timers.
By the time you swap out the Header image, change the colors of the borders and lines, swap out the background with your stars image, your Soho cart will pretty much look just like your BV site.
Just follow the Tutorials and it will be easier than you think.

Naval,

me mucho stupido (dumbass)

(But I'm gonna try - it will be a challenge...)

Thanks again

Hey Guys,

I know this is kind of an old thread but I have a question that's directly related to it and thought maybe Navel or someone else could help me out with this.

I have a sub-domain website with a movie on it that I produced (and hundreds of people are waiting to see) that's scheduled to be released soon. It's free to watch but people have the option to donate if they'd like which gives them the ability to download the movie. When they click donate, they are directed through PayPal which, after donation is complete, sends them to 6statetour.gnldteam.com/thankyou.html where they can choose what format of video they want to download. I want it to start the download when they click on the link and I don't want the video in a zip file. I spent ALL DAY today (and yesterday) working with Navels download PHP above but I can't get the video files to start downloading. If I insert a .jpg link, it works perfectly but it won't start downloading any of the videos (.avi .mp4 .flv) which is what I need. It just shows a blank white page. Is there something I need to insert like MIME? This is probably a 2 second problem for you guys, but I just don't get it.

Here's the code I have in a PHP file called "download" in the main folder.

<?php
error_reporting(0);
$folder = "moviedownloads"; // This is the folder where your files are, make its name rather strange like "hJ68bkG9"
$file[1]= "6-State-Tour-Movie-The-Hanson-Family-Singers.avi";
$file[2]= "6-State-Tour-Movie-The-Hanson-Family-Singers.mp4";
$file[3]= "6-State-Tour-Movie-The-Hanson-Family-Singers.flv";
// Add as many as necessary
Output:$file_name = $file[intval($_GET['id'])];
$file_path= $folder."/".$file_name;
$file_type = filetype($file_path);
$data = file_get_contents($file_path);
$file_size = strlen($data);
$header .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0'.$eol;
header("Pragma: public");
header('Expires: '.gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s').' GMT');
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header("Content-type: Application/ $file_type");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$file_name");
header("Content-Description: Download PHP");
header("Content-Length: $file_size");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
echo $data;?>

The full link to the folder containing the videos to be downloaded is http://gnldteam.com/6statetour/moviedownloads/ and the full links to the video files are:

http://gnldteam.com/6statetour/movie...ly-Singers.avi
http://gnldteam.com/6statetour/movie...ly-Singers.mp4
http://gnldteam.com/6statetour/movie...ly-Singers.flv

In the BV program link settings, I'm linking to ./download.php?id=1 etc. It either downloads the PHP file or goes to the blank white screen unless you have a .jpg link set up to download, then it works. (the Happy-new-year-2011.jpg file in "moviedownloads" was my test file)

I feel like I'm getting very long winded here. Hopefully I gave you guys all the info you need and didn't miss anything or type something wrong so you can check it out right away. If you need anything else, let me know!

The main address where this all starts is: www.gnldteam.com/6statetour and is a completely separate enterprise from www.gnldteam.com.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Daniel Hanson
www.hansonfamilymusic.com

Never mind! I took a break from it yesterday then came back this morning, spent 5 more hours on it and figured out how to make the videos download.

I hope no one has spent any time trying to figure this out for me. If you have, thank you!

I'm super happy right now!!! :) Thanks again guys and take care!