Web-based media players
From WhyNotWiki
I dislike them, as a general rule. 100% of the ones I've seen are implemented in Flash. Some of the time, you can extract the URL for the .flv file itself and download that. (How does that one Greasemonkey script do it?) But generally they (try to) make it impossible for anyone to download the media.
They want to control how you use it. They want to allow you to watch/listen to it, but not (heaven forbid) copy/distribute it. And yet they don't mind you playing it as much as you want through their special player. Why is that? Wouldn't it cost them fewer resources if they didn't have to stream the media to every single user every single time? In other words, wouldn't BitTorrent, etc. be a more cost-efficient (and overally efficient) means of distribution?
But like I said, they want to be in control. They don't mind you watching it or inviting others to watch it, but they don't want you to watch it with your own player. Why is that?
One reason is ads. But many places -- like YouTube -- don't have ads anyway, so why do they care?
They want to be in control. They want to be the source that everyone comes to. They want the traffic. They want to be the centralized server. (But decentralization would be more efficient!)
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http://www.npr.org/help/media.html.
[edit] What technology is required to use audio/video on NPR.org?
The NPR Media Player, which is used to play audio and video on NPR.org, requires the Adobe Flash Player version 8 or later. This player plug-in is available free from Adobe and is pre-installed in many web browsers.
The NPR Media Player is designed for and has been tested with the following platforms and browsers (as of November 2007):
Windows 2000/XP/Vista:
...
MacOS X
...
Linux/Unix
- Mozilla Firefox 1.x or 2.
[At least they support / test it on Linux. That's a start. But why don't they just give us the underlying file and not even bother forcing a special player on us that they then have to worry about testing and supporting?? Well in NPR's case, I think it's mostly so they can force us to watch/listen to ads.]
[edit] Does NPR.org offer audio in MP3 format for download?
Currently, NPR is not able to offer all audio in a downloadable MP3 format due to rights considerations. However, a significant number of NPR offerings are available in MP3 format via our podcasts. In addition, the NPR Program Stream is available in "streaming MP3" format.
["Rights considerations"?? What is that supposed to mean? You mean taking away people's rights, preventing people from being allowed to use it for fair use applications? Again: you already allow it to be viewed/played by anyone for free, so what "rights considerations" would stop you from distributing it even more widely, by means of a standard, downloadable file?]
[edit] Why don’t you support other file formats such as Quicktime or OGG Vorbis?
Currently, the infrastructure and delivery costs associated with maintaining multiple file formats require that we limit the number of file formats that we support.
[Nonsense!!!!! Utter nonsense. The cost to transcode into other formats would be negligible, and I'm sure there would be volunteers who would be gladly willing to create/provide the infrastructure for you. Delivery costs would not increase, because users would still only choose to download one of the available options/formats -- not all of them (duh)!]
[edit] What if I have a low-speed connection?
For users on dial-up and/or less reliable connections (such as some overseas connections), we recognize that by increasing the "bandwidth" (or quality level) of our streams you may now be experiencing significant performance issues.
There are a number of possible options we can recommend:
1. The NPR 24-hour Program Stream continues to be available in multiple formats including Windows Media, Real Media, and Streaming MP3 (for WinAmp, iTunes, and other MP3-capable players). These streams can be accessed on our program schedule page or via the “schedule” link near the top of the NPR.org home page.
...
4. Additionally, many NPR programs are available for download via the NPR Podcast Directory -- Podcasts are MP3 files that can be downloaded to your computer and played locally, avoiding the unreliability of network connections. Many podcasting applications, such as the popular iTunes software, can be configured to automatically subscribe to particular content and download it automatically so that it is available to you when you want to listen.
[Just make everything available as an MP3, silly! Then even those with low-speed connections would always be able to enjoy it (they'd just have to wait longer for the download to finish).]
