A customer asked me to install an MP3 player into their WordPress blog. I searched the WP Plugins directory for “mp3 player” and found several that either had too many features or required you to jump through hoops to get an audio file into place. Many required use of manually constructed [tags] to insert the player into a page.
I was determined to find MP3 player software that;
1. is simple enough so a novice blogger could follow all the normal WP docs and not have to fuss with settings, secret codes, FTP uploads or other work-arounds, and;
2. can play an MP3 audio file without users having to download or install other software, and;
3. didn’t take the reader off page, (or off site), or cause a “pop-up player” to launch.
After trying several other plugins and trying to integrate a javascript stand-alone player, I started clicking around through music related forums and stumbled across a post recommending Martin Lane’s WordPress Audio Player, (v2.0). …and I highly recommend it too! It’s simple, clean and non-intrusive — and best of all, it works!
And now…. Mrs. G.A. Griffin, (1939*), calling livestock…
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
*NOTE: the scratchy sounds are NOT from the player — these clips were recorded in 1939 by John & Ruby Lomax during their Southern U.S.A. ethnographic field collection of audio recordings.
To demonstrate using more than one player per post, here’s another fine Lomax clip to listen to:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The WordPress Audio Player can be used with the default settings, (and it will appear as it does here), or can be easily customized to change the look and functionality of the player.
In addition, there are settings to prefix or append other audio clips to an MP3, (e.g.- to run an audio advertisement before a clip plays, or run a clip with comments or credits after an MP3 plays).
There are more features including ones specific to managing podcasts and for other uses of MP3 audio files on a blog.
Audio MP3 Source: Lomax Collection, Library of Congress
###
It does not work on WP 2.9+. I’ve tried everything in the book and beyond, and it simply will not show up at all on the post.
Hi Chuck,
Maybe you didn’t notice — this site is (currently) running WordPress v2.9.2… works fine. Must be something else. Possibly another plugin is conflicting with how your blog handles MP3 audio files, or a setting in WP itself.
Randy.
Thanks so much! Exactly what I was looking for. I did not want anything complicated since I’m a newbie. It worked for me in WP 2.9.2!
I would love to know how to put the player and an image in an iframe? since it’s so hard to line the 2 up in a blog post.
You should be able to wrap the image and the audio player in a DIV tag and center them, eg-
<div stlye=”text-align:center; width:400px;”>
<img src=”example.jpg width=”400″ height=”300″ border=”1″ alt=”this is a picture”>
[audio:http://example.com/test.mp3|titles=This is Test Music]
</div>