Why I Hate Flash Audio and What I Did About It
Published July 29th, 2005 in Articles, TechnologyI love spoken-word audio. I’ve been listening to seminars, lectures, and books on tape for years.
I love downloadable audio. Missed that teleseminar you signed up for? Just download the MP3 (or Real Media, or Windows Media, or QuickTime) file and it’s almost as good as being there—maybe better.
But I really dislike streaming audio of the kind you can’t download, and I find the new trend to use Macromedia Flash to provide audio clips online particularly irritating.
Why? Because I don’t want to have to sit in front of my computer screen to listen to something. The only time I might want to do that would be if I were taking notes, or if the recording were a set of instructions on how to do something with a computer program. When I’m at my computer, I’m usually busy doing something that requires concentration (like writing).
I want to do my listening when I’m away from my computer and doing something that occupies my hands but not my full attention. In my case, that’s primarily when I’m driving and when I’m cooking. And while I could theoretically prop my laptop on the passenger seat while I drive, I can’t (yet, anyway) get a connection to the Internet while going 65 miles an hour. Besides, the car stereo has much better speakers than the laptop does.
The whole point of podcasting, after all, is to allow people to download and listen at their leisure, the same way RSS news aggregators let you collect blog headlines and other news at your own convenience. These streaming-only audio clips (.ram as well as Flash) don’t give you that option. And that snarks me off.
And yes, I do realize that people want to protect their intellectual property and that’s one reason they use non-downloadable streaming audio. But I don’t want to sell or otherwise redistribute this stuff. I just want to listen to it on my time. To users of streaming audio I pose the question: would you rather I just didn’t listen? Would you really prefer that I just miss your marketing message altogether?
Because that’s what was happening before I thought of a solution
In May I made one of my best investments of 2005 and bought a $10 mini-stereo audio cable. I plug one end into the laptop’s headphone socket and one end into the cassette recorder’s microphone port. Or I plug the other end of the cable into the microphone port on the laptop and record it onto my computer to play on my new MP3 player. (My current preferred recording software is the freeware program Audacity, available in versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.)
Now all I need is one of those car stereos with an MP3 player built in.
I am not a great fan of lash as an audio delivery system either, primarily for the same reason that Sally mentions, you are tied to your place. I do however use it on my own site and others. Why, because within a 20 - 30 second grab you can communicate a messsage much more effectively than words alone. It’s not intended to be downloaded and consumed later, it’s ment to be a part of the whole experience.
Podcasts are better for just about every other way of taken targetted and chosen media with you. On trains, planes and automobiles yes, a lot of retor fitting of MP3 player connections to car stereos.
Anyway both have a place, hate is perhaps too strong a word. It all depends on your intent and the purpose the audio is provided for.
Woywegian
Yes, you’re right: Flash audio has its place. I do have flash players on my podcast pages, for those (like my mother) who find it easier just to click and play. But the title wouldn’t be as snappy if it were “Why I Hate Flash-Only Audio.”