ATS media player-Audio vs. Video

I think the ATS media player is outstanding. When someone posts a video from ATS media, a player comes up that has nice controls for play, pause, a time slider, etc.

However, I'm not getting a player like that with ATS audio files, like in this post:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I understand there's no video but why can't I still get the same controls like play, pause, and time slider like I get with the videos (Or are other people getting a player and it's just me having a problem with no player on the ATS audio files?)

Just to be clear, the audio plays for me, it's just annoying that I have no control over it, nor any ability to backup and replay a part that i misunderstood, nor an ability to pause if I get a phone call.

I've observed other media players can handle audio files as well as video files, so why not the ATS media player too? Or can't we get some kind of controls on these audio files? Please?

reply to post by Arbitrageur

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I do see a control with play, pause, volume and a slider on it. You probably need an update, though for the life of me the name of it has gone out of my head...

reply to post by StevenDye

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Hmmm thanks for the feedback!

When I read your post I tried in Internet Explorer, and lo and behold I get controls there (looks like windows media player controls).

So it's only in Firefox that I don't get any controls. I normally browse with Firefox though.

I'll try to do some searches to see what I need to get the controls in Firefox too but if anyone knows, please post it, thanks.

I usually do not see the controls either (on Opera), but the other day I could see them, maybe it was a different format and a different player.

And it would be much better if it didn't started playing all by itself.

reply to post by ArMaP

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Yes the fact that it starts playing all by itself is a problem for me too, and then I can't even stop it except by leaving the thread completely.

The format for the link in the OP is MP3, I'm sure there are other formats too, but I think this is only the 2nd time I've run across an ATS audio file so I'm not sure what the other formats do yet.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I use firefox (are there REALLY other browsers )

I getz the controls... just update your plugins

There is a problem with the audio that plays by itself

First it spooks people

HELP, unknown voices
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Then when you toss one in to explain it to them and some one quotes your post you get an echo effect (see above link)

It sounds cool but imagine two or more audio files on the same page



Works on .wav files too

reply to post by Arbitrageur

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Thanks Zorgon.

I did some research and I'll document what I found here in case someone else runs across this who had the same problem.

I use Firefox and VLC media player with Windows. Apparently there are some plugin compatibility issues based on my research, so it's not an ATS issue specifically. I uninstalled VLC and removed all preferences and cache when I did. Then I installed the latest VLC player. I tried that with and without the latest Mozilla Firefox plugin. Even with the latest plugin, the same thing happens, it just starts playing with no controls appearing.

So I uninstalled VLC again, and reinstalled it WITHOUT the plugin. Then I get prompted with an icon that says "download plugin" The only plugin option I get when i click that is Apple Quicktime. I can't use that because it starts every time I start my PC and uses precious memory for something I almost never use. As I said this is the first time I've ever come across any embedded mp3 file like this so why give up so much of my PC memory for an application I've never even needed before and won't need frequently. I have a real problem with Apple not giving us the option to start quicktime like any other application, when we need it, instead of when the PC starts automatically.

So the workaround I ended up using is the following: I see the prompt for the MP3 file. I click on "quote" to get the raw bbcode and copy and paste the URL for the ATSmedia location of the mp3 file to the browser, download it, and then open up the downloaded MP3 file to play it.

That's hardly the convenience of an embedded file, however it works, gives me controls, and since I don't come across these very often, it makes much more sense to do this than to eternally surrender my PC memory over to apple Quicktime that starts whenever I start the PC when I never use Quicktime otherwise.

Maybe someday they will fix the plugin compatibility issue, but it appears to be a known issue.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and help! If I missed some other option here feel free to point it out!

Regards.

Yes, mine comes up as Quicktime as well; and that does of course have controls. Most of the time it is not an issue for me.

You do have the option of right clicking the little Quicktime icon down in the task bar at the bottom of the screen and then clicking "exit".

You can do that at anytime. Once done, I believe it stops using resources. The fact that it does always start at startup is a pain, I agree!

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