Solved can I make a small sound file automatically play in an email?

digiday · Jan 6, 2011

Hi W7Fers,

I am using WL Mail 2011 and I have a very small sound file that I would like to play automatically in an email to a friend... or at least show a "play" button on the email to make the sound file play, if not automatically.

If it is possible to make the sound file loop that would be kind of cool too, but that is not mandatory.

I've seen this before where a sound or video file that is attached to an email comes with a "play" button and I've always wondered how that is done.

I have this small, 100k sound file in mp3, m4a, wav, and I can also convert it to wma or wav format as well.

Also, if you can recommend a decent sound editing app that is shareware, that would be great too... just to edit and cut sound files and maybe adjust the volume.

Thanks,

digiday

Mike Connor · Jan 6, 2011

Some programs will do it;

How to Add Background Sound to an Email Message in IncrediMail - About Email

http://email.about.com/od/incredimailtips/qt/et_bkgd_sound.htm http://lichao.net/eblog/play-music-automatically-in-the-e-mail-with-outlook-express-20060631.html

will often cause problems if you send executable files in e-mail though, and many anti-spam measures will treat them as viruses and the like.

Regards....Mike Connor

Mike Connor · Jan 6, 2011

For sound editing;

Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder

Free Audio Editor - Completely free audio editor for Windows

there are many more but these are good and free, and suitable for what you want.

Regards....Mike Connor

digiday · Jan 6, 2011

Thanks Mike,

I looked at the link to IncrediMail and about.com links detailing its use... looks cool... is there a catch to using their email client app for free?

And I'll look in to Audacity too... I used to use Final Cut Express for some audio editing.

Thanks so much for the recommendations,

digiday

Mike Connor · Jan 6, 2011

My pleasure.

I don't know of any catches, it's just a free e-mail client. Here is the main site;

Download IncrediMail

have a look at the other free audio editor as well, a lot of people like it.

Regards....Mike Connor

digiday · Jan 7, 2011

forgot to say...

I forgot to say... with respect to IncrediMail... it does have the sound insert feature, but it looks like it would be as if Walt Disney threw-up in my computer with all the little bad animation junk that would be going on... and I read that it wants to automatically open upon start-up with dancing ferries and annoying little cherubs... I fear it would be one of those apps that opens at start-up in spite of my system settings and I'd end up blowing my brains out.

Talk about killing your computer... it would be like being assaulted by the Cartoon Network every time I boot up... and in the morning I would just get pissed and end-up pouring coffee on my monitor.

I think Thunderbird has the insert sound feature... it does everything except sleep with my wife. WL Mail 2009, Windows Mail and Outlook apparently have the the insert sound ability, but of course MS stripped WL Mail of that feature with the 2011 edition.

With respect to the plug-in for Firefox that reveals hidden links... I use Firefox and I love it, but I don't need one more plug-in installed... FF is already like a Swiss army knife on steroids.

Thanks,

digiday

digiday · Jan 7, 2011

trying audio + video email embedding

Hi again Mike,

I tried the embedding thing in Thunderbird with the HTML code from a little video that I had posted on YouTube, but it is not working.

I inserted the HTML code via Insert>HTML, as directed in the article that you sent me the link to, but nothing shows up in the returned email... not sure why it isn't working.

I'm going to try a couple of other things, but I'm still wondering about an audio file serving site that will provide the HTML code for an audio file that I would upload.

Thanks again,

digi

Mike Connor · Jan 7, 2011

Here is a list of audio hosters;

Audio Hostings - free audio hosting sites

<http://www.audiohostings.com/>

With regard to embedding, this will insert the required code; ( You don't need this if you use the audio hosters, they give you a link to insert)

Code:

<div
style="background-color: gray; height: 32px; width: 32px;"
id="console">
<div id="linktext"><a id="media"
href=Insert Link Here<big>♫</big></a></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var tagh; var tagw; var mimeType;
if (document.getElementById) {
var mconsole = document.getElementById("console").style;
var fileURL = document.getElementById("media").href;
var urllength = fileURL.length;
var last3 = fileURL.substring(urllength-3,urllength);
mconsole.backgroundColor = "transparent";
}

function ResizeConsole() {
if (last3 == "swf") {
tagh = "600px"; tagw = "800px";
PlayMedia();
}
else if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Mac")!=-1) {
if (last3 == "mp3" || last3 == "wav") {
mconsole.height="3em"; mconsole.width="10em";
document.write('Please click note to play.');
}
else {
tagh="16px"; tagw="144px";
PlayMedia();
}
}
else if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Win")!=-1) {
tagh="60px"; tagw="144px";
if (last3 == "mid" || last3 == "idi" || last3 == "mp3") {
if (navigator.mimeTypes["music/crescendo"] != null) {
tagh="16px"; tagw="16px";}
}
PlayMedia();
}
else {
mconsole.height="3em"; mconsole.width="10em";
document.write('Please click note to play.');
}
}

function PlayMedia() {
mconsole.height = tagh; mconsole.width = tagw;
document.getElementById("linktext").style.display = "none";
if (last3 == "mid" || last3 == "idi")
document.write('<embed src="' + fileURL + '" type="audio/x-midi"');
else if (last3 == "wav")
document.write('<embed src="' + fileURL + '" type="audio/x-wave"');
else document.write('<embed src="' + fileURL + '" ');
document.write(' autostart="true" loop="false"');
document.write(' height="' + tagh +'" width="' + tagw + '">');
}

ResizeConsole();

// Gecko Embedding System (GES)
// Version 1.0 by Joji Ikeda 2005/05/05
// Multiple content-type selection added JoeS 03/08/05. Thanks!

</script>
</div>

It wont work on all clients, you just have to try it.

This will allow you to embed a video;

How to Embed Video & Audio in an Email | eHow.com

<http://www.ehow.com/how_7169265_embed-video-audio-email.html>

Regards....Mike Connor

digiday · Jan 7, 2011

HTML embedding code and link to instructions

Thanks again Mike,

That link that you provided to How to Embed Video & Audio in an Email | eHow.com
is the one that I was following instructions from, but without success.

Thanks for all that code... that will test my limited knowledge of HTML code... I'm a Dreamweaver user and I know how to edit code based on table and cell begin and end tags and I can put together elements and edit tables and cells together, etc., but I'm not a code writer.

I take it that I insert my audio file link URL where the little music symbol is located in your code, and otherwise just paste that whole globe in to a Thunderbird email via Insert>HTML>Insert.

I will follow your link to find out how to post an audio file... thanks so much for that.

I'm not sure why the YouTube code doesn't work when I insert that in an email... I've seen how it works in a webpage when inserting embedded code for a video... when I send the test email to myself, nothing at all shows up in Thunderbird and one of those little blank image symbols shows up in WL Mail 2011 with a box around it, I guess representing where the video player should be.

I tested that YouTube video code from an ISP based email account and from my web mail account, both with the same "blank" results.

I don't have Dreamweaver on this machine where I'm working from now, but I think I saw a GNU open source Dreamweaver knock-off available out there somewhere, so maybe I'll resort to that for my little project if nothing else works.

Thanks allot again,

digi

Mike Connor · Jan 7, 2011

My pleasure. If you just want to bash out some HTML code, get this;

Notepad++ | 5.8.6

<http://notepad-plus-plus.org/>

It is free, and absolutely first class.

If you want to develop code then get one of these ( also free )

Amaya

<http://webdesign.about.com/od/freewebeditors/fr/amaya-profile.htm>

About.com: http://www.seamonkey-project.org/

<http://webdesign.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=webdesign&cdn=compute&tm=54&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_p504.1.336.ip_&tt=6&bt=1&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.seamonkey-project.org/>

* Arachnophilia

<http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/>

They all work well. Unfortunately the one I use most ( or did, I don't bother much now ), is not available in English.

Regards....Mike Connor

digiday · Jan 7, 2011

Thanks so much again...

I figure one of those links is to a Dreamweaver knock-off... like I said, I'm not a code writer who writes from scratch... I've been able to edit my Dreamweaver page code with some success... splicing page parts together, adding code in to a cell, etc.

I'm trying a couple of the audio/any file hosting sites now... Plunder wanted me to complete a survey and register to get a free Olive Gardens gift cert... guess there's a catch to everything.

Ciao,

digi

digiday · Jan 7, 2011

Worked and didn't work...

Hi Mike,

I thought I would send you my results by writing back since you were so nice writing back so much with all the info.

I found that TOOFiLES.com worked well for uploading my audio file without any hassle... here is the link...
Too Files - Free File Hosting - No limit - HAL9000 Wdytydd+ASZ+short 64kbps 04;49 2mb - hal9000_wdytyddaszshort_64kbps_0449_2mb.mp3 - Too Files

That part worked very well... but unfortunately the embedding of the sound in an email via Thunderbird didn't work... after placing this "TOOFiLES" link in the code that you provided, it made the URL show up in the email and that is the way that it appeared when the email was received... it displays the URL with a gray background... I tested it from two different email addresses, web and ISP based, and got the same result when receiving the email in Thunderbird and WL Mail 2011 in two different email accounts.

I went ahead and sent an email to my cousin, also a "2001 A Space Odyssey" fan, just with my "Ode to HAL 9000" audio file attached so he could just double-click on it to play it, along with an animated GIF that I made of the HAL 9000 circular red light fading in and out... for a little preview of what that looks like without the animation you can go to my profile page and see my profile image... for some reason, an even smaller version of that would not upload correctly on this site to use as my avatar.

So I thought in spite of my little gimmick not going so well, I'd see what happens when I click on the link in the received email... oddly it opens up Internet Explorer instead of my default browser Firefox, and then IE8 displays a "this address is not valid" page... not sure what is going on with that... but I can always just paste the working URL in to an email for that little trick to utilize the audio link.

So anyway, it is nice to have the link available to provide in an email if I don't want to bog down any family members email box with the 2 MB file that I created for this purpose, but I figure to make an audio file play in an email automatically, or via a play button that displays in the email, I'll create a simple webpage with that apparatus embedded in it to then send page by email.

Thanks again for all of your help... you must be helping allot of people out there.

digi

Mike Connor · Jan 7, 2011

Thanks for the feedback. It is probably better ( and a lot easier!) just to send the URL for the audio host link in the mail.

Some odd things happen with various embedded objects in mails, a lot depends on the clients. Some work, some don't, and some only work sometimes.

Glad to hear I was able to help a bit anyway.

Regards....Mike Connor

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