How to add Streaming Flash Audio
to your Website or Blog
Comparing the options for services and software:
Audiogenerator vs Instant Audio vs Xiosoft vs TalkStream vs ByoAudio vs AudioAcrobat vs Evoca
vs Impact Web audio vs Website Jukebox
If you are wanting to add audio to your website, I hope this page will be helpful.
After spending too many hours trying and testing out the various options I though it would be worth sharing my impressions.
Note: The navigation bars on the top and left have NOTHING to do with information on this
1 particular web page.
THIS Web "Page" is about Audio,
This Web "Site" is about Kiteboarding.
Audio for your Website or Blog
One of the strange things I found is that its difficult to find real websites that are using one of the listed audio software or services. Most of the sites that have it are only trying to sell you the audio service. On the other hand, this website, Kitemare.com, is all about Kiteboarding and uses audio as a way to better communicate with our visitors to help them learn more about the sport
No doubt that video like YouTube, or Vimeo is the ultimate for showing and telling, but its not always the best choice for every situation. I wish there was a simple free "YouTube for audio", but if it exists I haven't seen it.
At the moment, Nov 1 '09, we're using audio on our Contact page, and will soon be adding it to every page on this site. If you are reading this after Thanksgiving '09 than you should be able to see many examples of how we're implementing audio throughout our site.
We are currently using Audio Acrobat monthly service, and also have some self hosted audio's from software as well.
Audio Services compared
The set-up steps are pretty similar for all of the software and services, but the included features and pricing vary.
Audio Generator
AudioGenerator is also know as (same service as) Instant Audio and Xiosoft.
In other words:
audiogenerator = Instant Audio = Xiosoft
Their service is good. Very simple to use, and their audio plays ( buttons ) look clean
and professional.
If clean and profession and fast is your goal, and you don;t mind paying the price, this may be a good option.
Pricing: $30 a month ( 29.95)
+ 15 cents a minute toll charges for recording by phone
+ 15 cents a minutes when your customers call into to leave a testimonial
+ $3.00 per Gb if you go over the allotted 3 included Gigabytes.
During the Free Audiogenerator trial, I decided to use the direct ( seemingly non-toll) number
they show for international users.
Surprise!!! ... I received a CC charge for the same 15 cents a minute.
We used the service in the past and were getting $10 to $20 per month charges for overage charges. But we also had many people listening to our audio's.
If you don't mind the $30 to $50 per month, then go for it.
Byo Audio and Audio Acrobat
Byo Audio is the sister company of Audio Acrobat.
The websites look different, but the inner workings of them looks identical.
The Only difference I could find is that Audio Acrobat charges less for Bandwidth usage and also offers free training to its clients.
We used Byoaudio in the past, but are now using the AudioAcrobat.
Pricing:
Both BYO and Acrobat charge $20 a month ( $19.95 ).
Both include 5 Gb of included monthly bandwidth. This is great and much better than
audiogenerator which only includes 3 gb.
Bandwidth Overage Charges:
ByoAudio charges $2 per Gb
AudioAcrobat charges $1 per Gb.
The Manager, David Barrett, at AudioAcrobat is the Best! This guy answers emails fast, and really works to help his clients to get the most out of the service by providing regular training on how to use audio as well as podcasting. When you hear David speak, you can tell right away that he's worked in radio for a long time.
The only thing that needs improvement is their selection of audio players. They have a ton of options but most of them do not fit our needs. On the other hand, for a website you Only need to find "1" player style and color that you like and just use it over and over.
We're using the "Drag Bar player", and styled it with the colors of Brazil. ( Green, Yellow, Blue) They tell me that they are already working on a new selection of audio players.
Here are the reasons we decided to go with Audio Acrobat over the other service providers.
1. Unlimited call in lines. That means that you can assign multiple separate recording lines and use them in your various forms of marketing. Doing so is the best way to see where your marketing dollars are best spent and allow you to keep everything super organized.
2. Podcasting. I have no idea how to use it yet but I know that its an excellent way to share your message with the world, and its included in their service.
3. Price $20 a month and only $1 per gb overage is a nice price!
4. Customer support. They respond quick!
5. Audio Stats. You'll be able to see exactly which of your audio's are being played, how many times, and the % of times played to completion. This is VERY VERY important information.
If you're speaking, you'll want to know if people are listening.
Here is an image of the stats for an audio I just uploaded today / Nov 1. The stats are here will be much more valuable in a week or 3 once many visitors have had the opportunity to click and listen.
6. Live / real time instant audio updating by phone without needing to update the code.
Talk Stream
Talk stream is an audio service provided by a company called Implex.
When first signing up for their trial service, it was over 12 hours before I received the confirmation email needed to be able to log-in.
When a customer calls your testimonial line Talkstream does NOT send you and email alert like the other services do.
Most services allow you to upload an mp3. Sorry, Not Talkstream.
I spent over an hour trying their service and things did NOT work as advertised. I emailed the company explaining exactly the issues I was having. You would think that they would have a tech guy reply and offer some help on getting it to work.
Instead they responded with
" We're sorry that Talk Stream is not right for your needs at this time and we hope you consider us in the future".
In other words,
they made NO attempt to figure out what the issue was or to help resolve it.
I also noticed that the ONLY people that talk about TalkStream are network marketers trying to sell the audio service to other networkers so they can sell it to other. discovering that fact usually equates to "Product with low value". ( My opinion anyway.) The company is now pushing a grouping of their products called webprosperity.
Suggestion: Avoid Implix and Talkstream, Look elsewhere.
Much better more reliable services are available form AudioGenerator, Audio Acrobat, and Evoca.
Evoca
These guys are Professionals, and only seem to deal with professional.
I found Evoca's audio's being used by the Discovery channel website and by newspapers.
If you want an audio player that's different than their 2 basic ones,
you'll need to wait until
they add more options.
They currently only have 2 audio player styles. One thats unique to them, and the other one looks exactly like the "JW Player". I don't really like the look of either one, but everyone like something different.
Their pricing structure gives you the option of 10 included hours, or 20 included hours of storage. Evoca is Unique in that they do Not charge anything for bandwidth, only storage. The other companies charge for bandwidth.
We DO like Evoca's Browser Mic, that lets your site visitors leave a comment using their
microphone, but from experience we learned that only a small % of people are accustomed
to using their mic. The Average person in the US anyway, would rather use their telephone
or type an email..
Service vs Self Hosting Options / software.
Self hosting is less expensive for sure, but requires more time and effort
messing with the Code and files.
When using a service like Acrobat, you can actually use your telephone to update
or swap an audio you have currently playing on your website or Blog
That's pretty amazing! You may your original audio, and upload the code to your site / blog.
Then tomorrow ( or whenever ) you call in with your cell phone, record and update, news event, or promotion, and right from your phone, you can get the new audio playing from the same player button you already have on your site!
With the software, you ( or your expensive webmaster ) would need to sit down at your computer, re-record, and re-upload the new audio file and code.
ALL of the self hosted software's that we tried, require you to keep your web page file, mp3 file, swf player file, and xml and java file all in the same place which gets messy fast. If you
try to move and organize the files the audio wont work unless you know how to tweek
all of the code so that each file knows how to access the other file.
I tried it, and its work. Time = money, and for the $20 /$25 a month, I'd rather focus on content rather than messing with files and code any more than I have to.
Self Hosted Flash Audio Software
On the software side. They all seem pretty similar: Sonic Memo, Impact Web Audio, Website Jukebox, etc, Each has it pros and cons and should be researched if you choose to go that route.
I hope the above information was helpful. If you have a website and or Blog, check our
site map for a page called "Website and Blog resources". It's offline at the moment, but should be there by the time you read this. We're NOT audio experts but just wanted to share what we've learned. If you are interesting in KIteboarding, Kite landboarding, or Snow Kiting, that's our passion and the purpose of this website.
Related Links:
Webmaster / Blogger / Business Resources
Audio Acrobat
Evoca
Site Map
Kitemare-Kiteboarding Home Page
Kitemare-Kiteboarding Testimonials Page ( with Audio )
Kitemare Kiteboarding Contact Us Page ( with Audio )
