What I'd like to do is make an embedded sound file fully download before it starts playing, rather than streaming, then loop indefinitely. Unfortunately, I'm having problems doing this. With it streaming, the sound can jerk a lot, especially on slow connections, as the download waits to catch up. Buffering basically. Is there any way around this please.
you can do this with Javascript. It was a simple and common technique used to preload images for javascript rollovers. I haven't seen it with Sound files specifically, but Javascript can obviously do both. Google javascript sound/audio preloader scripts. the DOWNSIDE of this, is that it only works on the one page, and when the person navigates away fro your page the music stops. typically, unless the user WANTS a sound, it can be very very annoying. Suppose they're listening to music, go to your site, and then 30 seconds later a song starts playing. they don't know it's from their site, but they're annoyed. They will get angrier and angrier trying to get rid of the music because they are already listening to something/watching something else, and when they finally associate the music with your site, they will associate that moment of panic, anger and frustration with your site, and will likely avoid going to your site again. It happened with Myspace when people's profiles autoplayed music, it happens in amateur websites. It's best to wait for the user to request or ask for the music, because then they want it, and then it becomes an enriching experience adding value TO your site, not taking value away FROM your site. Yes it's possible, but in most cases it's not a good thing - and that's why it's not terribly common. I hope this helps, and I hope you'll consider how you will work it into your site so it brings value to your site. Best of luck!
Thanks, I'll take a look at it. Fortunately, people have to become a member of a particular part of the site before they can hear the sound. It's also page specific, so needs to change when the page changes. Most importantly in my opinion, it can also be turned off in a players' profile.