Title MP3 Hosting on ScrapBook
Short, concise description of the idea ScrapBook should allow MP3s to be hosted
Full description of the idea Sometimes when I post an entry, I have a song or two that goes along with it, often related to the content of the entry. I've seen a few of my other friends do this, and I think it would be useful. A while ago ScrapBook was expanded to host video as well as images, and as I recall audio was originally going to be allowed. Additionally, although in light of recent circumstances this is less relevant, Vox has a similar service and even includes a flash player. (Yes, I know, LJ's not Vox.)
An ordered list of benefits
- Using an on-site solution for entry-related content (i.e., not involving third-parties)
- There are no expiring download links to worry about, like many free online hosts have; if I post an entry including audio now, if I come back to it a year later, all the content will still be there assuming I haven't deleted it from ScrapBook or my account hasn't been downgraded.
- Better audio quality and reliability than Voice Posts; this could be a workaround to the often not-working Voice Post phone numbers.
- As I understand it much of the backend already exists for this, so it would be trivial to implement.
- This would allow audio to use LJ/ScrapBook security groups and filters, including the Registered Users setting.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
- The ever-present copyright and intellectual property issues.
- Possibly losing the focus of ScrapBook being an image host, although this still falls in the "multimedia" umbrella, similar to video.
- Some people will probably post a lot of files at once for other people to download, and this may cause bandwidth issues or other site slowness.
- There'd need to be some sort of thumbnail for audio.