Streaming Audio?

Oh boy, you can tell Im new at all this stuff.

I read in the support wiki that Streaming audio is supported, but I cant seem to get it to work in the way Id like it too.

Im going to be mainly using MP3 files, but I can use WMA files if absolutely necessary. I would like to be able to have the user click on a title to listen to a streaming MP3, and have the option of a right-click and download, Ive seen this done before on other sites and like it.
I would like MP3s to start streaming in Windows Media Player preferably, because thats something most people have without having to d/l additional software.

Ive experimented with hosting media files in both mp3 and wma formats, and figured out how to properly link to them (thanks to this place) but on my personal computer I always get the Open With or Save As box. On another computer I did get a file to start streaming with QuickTime.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get the details out there. Thanks in advance!

If I recall what program that is used to play the mp3 will depend on the user not the web site designer. Thats why it plays on windows media on your and quicktime on someone elses.
Silk

My website

So its really more of an issue on the settings of the user's media player, not anything else?

Does anyone know where those settings are in WMP? Thats what I typically use, and most computers have it installed by default. So I would like to fix the issue on my own machine, that way I can help out users who are having the same problem on my website.

For windows media player 11 right click the top of the window. Select tools, options, file types tab, check the mp3 box.
It may be necessary to uncheck mp3 in quicktime. If I recall next time you run quicktime it will ask if you want to reassociate the file extentions. If you choose yes then mp3 will belong to quicktime once again.
for file type in quicktime, select edt, preferences,quicktime preferences, file types tab, uncheck mp3. There is a + bebore the checkbox this allows you to specify just audio or playlist. If the parent box is empty then neither box is checked.
Silk

My website

According to my WMP its version 11, but I did not see the file types tab under the options. Im running Vista if that makes any difference.

Also I unchecked the boxes for Mp3s in QuickTime.
Now when I click a hosted MP3, it starts to stream in Quicktime, and when I click a hosted WMA it opens a download box. So basically I duplicated the same thing on my laptop as I did on our desktop machine haha. I dont know if that counts as progress or not.

Thank you so much for your help so far, but Im not out of the woods yet.

EDIT: Eeesh the plot thickens, just for kicks I tried using IE, I had been using Firefox. In IE the WMA files began streaming with WMP like they should, the MP3 files still opened the download box though. I tried changing the settings in Firefox to automatically open MP3s with WMP instead of QuickTime, but that didnt work.
What Im not liking is the fact that not everyone who visits the site will be using IE, so I need to get this working with both, and hopefully more or less automatically, because I dont like the thought of people having to edit so many settings just to listen.Edited by littlehoov on 07/18/08 09:38 PM (server time).

I think firefox is a whole nother issue. I beleive firefox can force files to be download only or go to another program. It maybe necessary to specify meda player in firefox. I don't use firefox much so I am mostly guessing. But what saw of it appears to work that way.
Silk

My website