mp3 play error.

[JCphotog]

Hi guys.  Another question. 

For the first time I've attempted to upload an mp3 file to my coppermine gallery version 1.4.10 and I'm having trouble getting an .mp3 file to play in safari or netscape on a mac.  I've seen a topic that somewhat relates and was curious if this was a similar situation.  http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=31291.0

Here's a link to my site:
http://artdc.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=143&pos=0
Any suggestions?  This file plays just fine in IE6  A large number of my users are mac users, and this worries me. 

I searched in bugs. But I'm still not finding what I need. If there's a better place, please let me know, please spare the negative karma. 

[Joachim Müller]

The client needs to be configured to play mp3 files. I have no idea if this is the case for Macs out-of-the-box.

[JCphotog]

Mine's a few years old.  An aluminum powerbook.  So one generation back from the new intel machines.  Any suggestion on what I can do to make things work?

[Joachim Müller]

I have no idea - I don't own a Mac (any generation).

[JCphotog]

So you're saying this is a setting on the computer and not in the script?  I have no problems playing mp3's that are imbedded in other sites.  I don't think it's an issue with the hardware. 

[Joachim Müller]

Obviously, it's not a hardware issue, but a matter of client setup. Basically, Coppermine is set up to embed multimedia file types it "knows" into the page and ask the operating system ("save" / "open" dialog) what to do with the file if it doesn't "know" the file type. So this is not a matter of hardware, but client setup: your browser needs to "know" what app on the client to use to embed multimedia files.
That's as much as I can suggest - I have no clue what makes a Mac tick in detail.

[JCphotog]

Gotcha.  So then we need to find a different client for macs?  "if this browser then..."  Are there any mac users out there with the same problem that have some advice.  Or do we just need an extra line to tell the mac what to do.  What would you suggest that I do to make this work?

[JCphotog]

Could it have something to do windows lack of mac support for Windows Media Player.  They stopped moving forward, and have left the version at Windows Media Player 9 for Mac OS X.  They now offer a download for a plug into quicktime that will allow you to play windows media files: Flip4Mac..   

Would it be possible to add a line to the script to use quicktime with osx safari, netscape, or...?

[JCphotog]

Did something change on the mother ship?  I made one small change to the style.css file that should have nothing to do with this, but, now the test mp3 file plays!

http://artdc.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=143&pos=0

I'm happy.  Confused.  Same machine.  Same browser.  Now it works? 

[Sami]

style.css
can you tell us what did you do?

[JCphotog]

Sure.  I changed the background color of water drop.  I figured out what it was.  I installed Flip4Mac WMV plug-in earlier in the day(with no effect), but I never restarted the browser(got carried away with the day job)...   the plug in allows quicktime to play all windows media content on a mac.    Restarting the browser must have activated the plug in.  Find it here: http://www.flip4mac.com/ 

In my mind, it still means some users are having problems with windows media player content on a mac.  This is just away around it.  Would it be possible to throw in a line of code instructing osx browsers to just go directly to quicktime?

[JCphotog]

PS.  I'll try this on another mac at the office and see if this is the fix.  or just lightening from the gods.

[JCphotog]

Tried it on several computers.  First, the .mp3 doest play.  Download this: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx

Then restart your browser, and everything works. Mac's are having problems with windows media player...

[Joachim Müller]

Mac's are having problems with windows media player...

I don't find this particularly amazing.
As much as MS hold rights on WMA/WMV, Apple holds rights on MOV. That's why Macs don't play WMVs out of the box and need some stuff downloaded from Microsoft. Same thing applies for Windows users: they need to download Quicktime for playing MOV files.
In fact, there's a multitude of video formats and codecs (most of them come labelled as "avi", but are totally different). There are thousands of them. That's why you sometimes need to download third-party apps.
Similar things apply to audio files like mp3 - on some operating systems, there's no support for this file type out-of-the-box.

[JCphotog]

It's good to know.  And I'm glad I've found the solution.  Thank you for the help.  Again, I praise the opensource community for providing an excellent outlet for knowledge and netowrking. 

Maybe in the future, this will lead to adding to the compatibility of multiple platforms...