WMP streaming mp3 question

[vinder]

I used to be able to stream mp3's by just clicking on a link; it would open up media player and start playing the files automatically (eg. click on a link in dj mixes forum, and it would stream the file instead of waiting to download the entire thing).

but it seems that something has changed, and now when I click a link it tries to download the file before it will open it (no streaming). what could be causing this? i've checked the network protocols items in the options, but maybe it' ssomething else?

i can actually copy the link, and paste it into the "open url" and it will stream. but it's an extra step that i didn't used to have to take.

any help is appreciated!

 

[deep]

if you're using firefox, go to tools -> options -> downloads -> view & edit actions

then change the default behaviour for whatever the windows media player stream format is e.g. .asx or .wmv or .whateverthefuck

what happened is that at some point the default handling of mp3 files was changed from "open file from location" to "save file"

 

[randyval]

this is actually a feature of firefox i really like.

 

[veteze]

This is a pain in the ass for the people hosting the MP3s on so many levels.

The major thing being that every time you "stream" the file you're redownloading it and eating up bandwidth. Bandwidth might be free for you but it costs money to host files usually and there are limits although the limits are getting higher every day...

The second thing is it's really hard to make sense of download stats if somebody comes in and listens to an mp3 three times. It will look like it was downloaded 3 times meanwhile it was only downloaded once. To get accurate stats you then need to group IPs and downloads and this isn't an out of the box feature for most stats tools...

The people who put "right click save as" would really prefer you saved the file to your drive.

Anyhoo... I'm in a bitchy mood eh?

 

[vinder]

^^ definitely.

I'm actually using internet exploder, and I checked the advanced tab and can't see anything regarding downloading vs opening the file.