Audio Player WordPress Plugin

Last week was not a good week for me. Many times when I tried to save a post, I would get a server error message. The ISP eventually fixed the problem, but it was a very frustrating experience and resulted in a very unproductive week (I have six sites hosted with them and they were all having the same problem). However, I did find a mp3 player plugin for WordPress. It works really nice. This is how the player looks like (feel free to click on the play arrow):

[plugin has been disabled]
(lyrics here)

You can customize the colors of the player, pre/post appended clips (ie – "a word from our sponsor"), and configure it for podcasting. There are also options to determine what is included in the RSS feed. The plugin isn't suppose to place a player instance in the feed. Instead, you are suppose to choose what the plugin inserts into the feed. However, I noticed that even though the plugin defaults to "nothing" (meaning the feed shouldn't contain any reference to the audio file), there's a working player in both Bloglines and the new Google Reader. In Newsgator, there's no player but it does show a link to the mp3 file at the bottom of the post. Google Reader also has a link to the mp3 file. I like having the player in the feed, I'm just not sure how that is happening.

I did encounter two problems during the installation. First, after extracting the plugin, there's an audio-player folder and a file (audio-player.php) that sits outside of the audio-player folder. The first time I tried installing the plugin, I didn't see the file outside of the audio-player folder so I didn't ftp it over to the plugin directory. So, if you don't see the audio player in your plugin menu, you need to ftp "audio-player.php" to your plugin directory.

The second problem had to do with the code syntax (I left out the brackets):

audio:reasonforliving.mp3

Even though the mp3 file is located in the default "audio" directory, the file would not play. However, when I used the URL instead, the file plays (I left out the brackets):

audio:http://izachy.com/audio/reasonforliving.mp3

I'm happy with the plugin and would recommend it to anyone who wants to embed some audio files into their posts.

48 thoughts on “Audio Player WordPress Plugin

  1. Help! I got the Audio player to install fine, but I can't get the Audio player to work. I tried both the code options you mentioned and it doesn't show up in my post. What settings do you recommend from the options page?

  2. Connie, these are my settings for the plugin options:

    Audio files directory: /public_html/audio (my root directory is: public_html)
    Replace [audio] syntax: checked
    Enclosure integration: not checked
    Replace all links to mp3 files: not checked
    Pre-appended audio clip URL: blank
    Post-appended audio clip URL: blank

    Don't forget the brackets in the audio syntax:

    [audio:http://izachy.com/audio/reasonforliving.mp3

  3. I am having simalar problems, it is all installed my options are all default. But when I add the code nothing happens. I see the actual text in my post [audio:sound.mp3] no matter how I add it with the editor or in html, I cannot get the player to display and play. Anyone have any idea why?

  4. Ken, hopefully you can answer this question. My site is running WP1.5. I installed the plugin per instructions. Activated it. But when I go to the Options panel and click on Audio Player tab, the page doesn't show anything. And if my feedburner plugin is active, the page defaults to the feedburner plugin content. The player works fine on the page (all set to default), but I can't set any options. Please advise.

    Jonathan

  5. Jonathan, I have not had that problem. Sounds like a conflict with another plugin. Looks like you already posted this question on the plugin site. Hopefully, someone there has the answer.

  6. Pingback: 上善若水 » install two plugins

  7. "you need to ftp "audio-player.php" to your plugin directory."

    should we place the file within the plugin directory? or in the audio player folder?

  8. Hi Ken
    I myself have tried everything to get this darn thing to work and nada?I can't figure this plugin out?My audio-player.php is in the plugins directory where it should be.I can see the player under my post and when I click on it it says can't open file.I use Firefox.When I click on the player arrow in IE it says buffering but never plays?
    Thanks Kaye

  9. You were a big help Ken.Your site was the only one I could find with the best tutorial on this plugin and thanks for posting it.After a few tries I finally managed to get it to work.Thanks :-)
    Kaye

  10. I have the same problem, everything is set ok but nothing happens exactly like if I never put the audio code in the post.
    and something lse, what do u use to enable ur newletter?

    • I use FeedBurner for my newsletter, but I have not posted anything in awhile.

      Not sure what is causing your Audio plugin problem. Remember the file name for the audio file is case sensitive.

  11. Hi,
    I got the player working but don't know how to get song and artist information to show in the player like in the example shown on the 1 pixel out site .
    Can you hepl me with this?

    Bard’s last blog post..

    • It doesn't play on mine either. My guess is that's not the actual location of the mp3 file. esnips probably remaps that address to another location to prevent people from downloading the mp3 directly.

      • Dear Ken,

        I'd like to change the width of the player bar (so that it remains fixed, say, at 100 px at all times)

        For that I need to change $player_width, but I can't find the file where it's located… could you help me please?

        Thanx, TW

          • Dear Ken,

            Thanks for your reply.

            Maybe it's better to explain what I wanted to do – I want to get rid of the long bar so that it will fit inside text. I want only the icon to show (at all times, when it's active and when it's inactive, and for than I am willing to make the file name and counter invisible).

            When I tried to reduce the width, the icon itself becomes smaller and it's placed higher in the line, like superscript (in short, it doesn't look good).

            Is there another way to achieve what I want? I am aware that it might be impossible…

            TW

  12. TW, that's the only area in the code I see where you can change the width. It looks like the plugin actually passes parameters to the Flash player (player.swf in the audio-player sub-directory), but the file just displays garbage in my text editor. If you can find a way to edit that swf file, you might be able to get it to do what you want.

    • Ken, hi,

      I think I'll give up … am not a Flash expert :-( :-) and hope that what I wanted will be added to one of the next updates of the plugin.

      Many thanks!

      TW

  13. im using it. after several times trying, it finally worked out.

    Audio files directory: /public_html/audio (my root directory is: public_html)
    Replace [audio] syntax: checked
    Enclosure integration: not checked
    Replace all links to mp3 files: not checked
    Pre-appended audio clip URL: blank
    Post-appended audio clip URL: blank

    Don't forget the brackets in the audio syntax:

    [audio:http://site.web.id/audio/songname.mp3
    yes it finally works when using the full address

    yes and if you pay attention to the steps given, and also of course uploading it the right way. the folder and the php file on the plugin directory at your host.
    first, i've uploaded everything, the folder and the php file inside a folder.
    it still works on the control panel settings, it shows but nothing works.

    i re uploaded the file in the right directory. and now it is working.
    Thanks.

  14. Pingback: Ludus litterarius

  15. I'm having trouble uploading the player with a file on a post. I use the flash uploader on WP and all the post shows is the name of the file without the extension. Like this:

    Here for your amusement is a send up of all those initially pleasing, now irritating parody songs. Enjoy… but not too many times.

    flames_songs2

    flames_songs3

    Not sure how to fix it.

    Roger’s last blog post..Anderson Cooper – News AuthoriTEA

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>