Following my previous explanation on the usage of an embedded Flash player with an external playlist, I will now address the possibility of doing it using only the HTML code to supply the necessary information to be read. I would like to remind that I'm using the Dewplayer and that the following explanation is based on it, but can be applied to any standard Flash music player.

I personally prefer using an external playlist, but it can be very handy to use just the code if the number of Mp3 to be played is small. In order for the player to adequately render the Mp3 files and display the files' information (Track title, author, album, etc.), it is required to make some settings in the Mp3 file itself. It's also possible to input this data in the HTML code, but it can get pretty confusing and it's really not handy to copy-paste the code for different usages, as you have to edit it every time you use different tracks.

Ok, so this is a 3 phase process:

- Getting the Mp3 files ready (which means editing and uploading them)
- Getting the player uploaded
- Gathering all the info in the final HTML code

Before we start, you should be aware of the following: the Mp3 file name (ending in .Mp3) is different from the file's info name; the file's info will be displayed by the player - this is why sometimes MediaPlayer or other music players display the wrong song names when we're sure the File is the right one! This means that you can name all your songs track1.mp3, track2.mp3, etc., but if you adequately edit the files' info, the player will display the proper information.

So, first you have to edit the information for each Mp3 file. Here we go:

Step 1: Mouse Right-click on one of the Mp3 files you want to use; after right-clicking it you should see a list of options as Play, Copy, Cut, etc. The last of all the options will be Properties. Click it.

Now you have access to all the file's information on a pop-up window.. On top of this window, you have the tabs: General, Security and Summary. Click Summary. Now there the list of available fields of information regarding the file.

Step 2: now you have to edit this information. Click on the available fields (Artist, Artist info, Title, etc.) and edit them with the information you want to be displayed when the Mp3 is playing (basically, what the listener can read: Author, song name, etc.)

Step 3: After all the editing, click Apply and Ok, at the bottom. Repeat all the steps so far for each Mp3 file:

Right-click file > Properties > Summary > edit the info fields > Apply > Ok

Ok, so far so good (we hope!). Now lets upload all the necessary stuff:

Step 4: Upload all your edited mp3 files to your server or website. Copy-paste their web address to a text file. You should have a list of addresses starting with http://... and ending with ... .Mp3. So, if John is uploading Song1 and song2, to his website he should have in the end: something like:

http://johsonline.com/uploads/song1.mp3
http://johsonline.com/uploads/song2.mp3
etc.

Step 5: Upload you desired Flash player and copy-paste the address. This time the file should end in .SWF, the standard Flash objects' extension. So John would have:
http://johsonline.com/uploads/johnsmusicplayer.SWF

Step 6: Now we just need the HTML code to connect the Flash player to the files we want to use. So, in the general Dewplayer HTML code below,

<object data="dewplayer.swf" width="200" height="20"
id="dewplayer" name="dewplayer">
<param name="movie" value="dewplayer.swf" />
<param name="flashvars" value="mp3=test.mp3" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
</object>

you have to make the necessary alterations, using your own data according to your upload addresses. Notice that you just change the BOLD fiels, the ones the SWF and Mp3 files are concerned. So, getting back to John's example, he should have iin the end:

<object data="http://johsonline.com/uploads/johnsmusicplayer.SWF" width="200" height="20"
id="dewplayer" name="dewplayer">
<param name="movie" value="http://johsonline.com/uploads/johnsmusicplayer.SWF" />
<param name="flashvars" value="mp3=http://johsonline.com/uploads/song1.mp3|http://johsonline.com/uploads/song2.mp3" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />
</object>

Please notice that the different mp3 files' paths are separated by the vertical bar "|" - take care not to use spaces or other characters when inserting the info.

Step 7: Copy-paste your edited HTML code to your website, blog, etc.

Check my previous post on this subject and the Dewplayer website, it can be really helpful! And please let me know your comments or suggestions.

Enjoy the music!

To have full control of the music players that one can use on a website, it's common to use a music player object, usually built using Flash. I personally use and recommend the Dewplayer, as it gives you a clean modern look, being at the same time discrete. It is also free and the package comes along with different players so you can chose the one you prefer. Their website is really helpful, but as the whole procedure can be a bit tricking, I'll try to give it some more insight. If you prefer not to use this but other player, just follow the general steps.

There is a multitude of ways to incorporate (embed) these objects in a website. I think the easiest is just using some basic html lines, where the location of the different objects and files is displayed. I found most instructions about this and other html basic procedures a bit confusing. So, I'll try to give a rough explanation of the requirements of this kind of setting, using a player able to play different songs and showing the playlist.

So let's get started! You'll need four things:

1. the Mp3 files you wish to play (your songs). Make sure they are in a standard Mp3 format; 
2. the music player object (usually with a filename that ends in .SWF, meaning it's a Flash technology object).
3. A text document, containing the information for the player to read. This document should have a .xml extension;
4. The html code to insert in your page

For explanatory purposes, lets say you are named John, your website is http://jonhsonline.com and you want that player to render two songs, Mary sleeps.mp3 and Mary awakes.mp3.

Step 1:
- Upload all the Mp3 files to your site or server. After this, you should have a web address for each file, something like http://jonhsonline.com/uploads/marysleeps.mp3 and http://jonhsonline.com/uploads/maryawakes.mp3

Check that the address ends with .mp3; Copy-paste the addresses to a text document (word, notepad, anything is fine). Repeat this procedure for all the Mp3's.

Step 2:
- Now you need to get and upload your .SWF object, the player itself. Get it from some site and upload it also on your website or server. Like I said, I went for Dewplayer. If the object comes in a ZIP or RAR files, just uncompress it to your desktop.

After the upload, your object's address should be something like 
http://jonhsonline.com/uploads/jonhsmusicplayer.swf;

Again, Copy-paste this address to a text document;

Step 3: Open a new Notepad file (or any text file), and copy the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<playlist version="1" xmlns="http://xspf.org/ns/0/">
     
    <trackList>
   <track1>
          <location>Mp3 Location</location>
          <creator>Mp3 creator</creator>
          <album>Album name</album>
          <title>Mp3 title (song name)</title>
   </track1>
       
     </trackList>
</playlist>

Step 4: Now you have to fill in the the previous BOLD fields (Location, creator, name and title) . You need to insert the specific information for each Song in order to have a nice Playlist, so you'll have to have different track information (track1, track 2 and so on). So:

- Replace Mp3 Location for the address of your file (the one that starts with http://... and ends with .mp3);
- input the Mp3 creator's name: yours, the band, etc.
- input the Album name
- input the song title;

For John's example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<playlist version="1" xmlns="http://xspf.org/ns/0/">
     
    <trackList>
   <track1>
          <location>http://johnswebsite.com/uploads/marysleeps.mp3</location>
          <creator>John</creator>
          <album>John goes Live</album>
          <title>Mary Sleeps</title>
   </track1>
       
<track1>
          <location>http://johnswebsite.com/uploads/maryawakes.mp3</location>
          <creator>John</creator>
          <album>John goes Live</album>
          <title>Mary Sleeps</title>
   </track1>

     </trackList>
</playlist>

Step 5: Save your playlist text document as playlist.xml;

Step 6: Upload this playlist to your website, like you did with the previous files. It should be something as:
http://johnswebsite/uploads/playlist.xml

Step 7:  Now you need the html code to connect all these elements and display the player in your webpage. So, the .SWF player, using the playlist.xml will play the .mp3 files:

<object data="http://jonhsonline.com/uploads/jonhsmusicplayer.swf" id="dewplayer" name="dewplayer" height="200" width="240">
<param name="wmode" value="transparent">
<param name="movie" value="http://jonhsonline.com/uploads/jonhsmusicplayer.swf">
<param name="flashvars" value="showtime=true&amp;autoreplay=false&amp;xml=http://johnswebsite/uploads/playlist.xml">
</object>

Again, the previous fields in BOLD are the one you have to work on, replacing these with your information.

Step 8: Copy and paste the previous code, after you've made all the necessary changes, to your website, blog, etc.

Final note: There are websites that "build" you a code with all the settings, but you usually have to upload your songs to their server and the player bring publicity attached.

Ok, and that's it. You can surf my website to see some of these players in action. Be aware that these procedures take some time to achieve and control properly. Be patient and don't hesitate if you have questions. I'm no expert but maybe I can help!