Is There A Webmaster In The House?

[2_gryphon]

Okay, I give up

Comments

[cheetah_spotty]

They're plain mp3 files, right? Then it depends on which plugin you've installed to play them, because natively, firefox has no mp3 playback capabilities. Typically, people have quicktime installed, and quicktime then plays back mp3 files for you if you click on them. At least under windows.

If you can find out which kind of mp3 plugin the people having playback problems are using, it may help narrowing down the search.

[2_gryphon]

Yes, they're plain MP3 files. And my Firefox does the same thing. It only plays a few seconds then stops. The plugin I have is Quicktime. But the same plugin works just fine with other browsers. And it doesn't have a problem playing the 2 Sense Shows, which are also MP3 files, in Firefox.

It's creepy and weird.

[katheralockhart]

yes, it is very creepy and weird.

[ace_bearpaws]

Bah, beat me too it.

[ace_bearpaws]

If it plays 2 Sense Shows, but not the Rants or Music files, and they are of the same format it has to be something with the file itself. Were they all created with the same program? What codec are people using to play the files? Because I know when I installed iTunes at one point on my windows box it tried to take over all of my streaming media, and things didn't play right in FireFox anymore. I'm doing a little research for you right now.

[2_gryphon]

I thought of that, actually. And I tried re-encoding a rant with the same encoder I use for the 2 Sense Show, and it still wouldn't play. Curiouser and curiouser.

[ace_bearpaws]

Have you tried re-encoding one of the 2 sense shows and then playing that? I get the feeling something in your setup has changed. It could also be a file permission thing with your server, but that is less likely.

[2_gryphon]

Well, keep in mind that those same rant and music files have been on the site for years now. No one has ever had a problem playing them until recently. And I think I can rule out permissions problems, as I've tried to re-upload a couple of the files to a different directory and they still didn't play.

[glowdragon]

I've come across a lot of strange mp3 glitches in my time. I'm convinced that most of them are due to oddities in the encoding software.

What did you use to encode the rants and music, and is it different from what you use for 2Sense?

[2_gryphon]

It was, yes. But I did try to re-encode a rant using the same encoder as the 2 Sense Shows and it still wouldn't play.

[2_gryphon]

Well, in the case of the rant and music files on my site, it's just a direct link. There's no real code surrounding them.

[schwereviper]

Yeah, I have to say I've been having a lot of drama with Firefox since I upgraded to 3.0.1, especially with YouTube videos and other Flash-related junk. As in videos only playing for two seconds and with no sound.

Shows what early adopting does for you.

[ixly_one]

I've had this same problem with YouTube and other flash, videos, and audio stuff, as have several other people I know. I'm afraid I'm not web-savvy enough to know why the hell that should be, but if enough people are having that issue then that might be the root of your problem.

[yippee]

It's weird. I'm on Firefox 2.0.0.16 and sometimes YouTube "breaks" and only plays two seconds, until I restart FireFox and then it plays fine. Also any flash-based audio players.

I tried playing one of 2's Rants (AnthroCon 2002) and it only played like 5 seconds via the Quicktime (7.5) plug-in in FireFox just now, but it played fine in IE 7.0.5730.11