FLASH: NEW!!! IMPORTING MP3

[Cyber Tron]

TUTORIAL  


Ok we've all been drooling over Flash 4's enigmatic support for mp3s. Turns

out that Macromedia was kinda stretching the truth.  You can only import

.wav files, and then you encode them into .mp3 files once they are in a

flash movie. But don't despair!  You can still put your favorite mp3s into a

movie! 


Create your new movie, or open up your existing movie. 

   

Open up winamp, the web's best mp3 player.  Of course, if you don't have it

go grab it at www.winamp.com . 

   

Now, get your favorite mp3.  If you don't have any mp3s, you can either go

to Mp3.com, go to Audiogalaxy.com and search for mp3s by artists that you've

actually heard of, or hey, you can even make your own mp3s off of your CD's

by getting a ripper/encoder. There are many that you can download at

Mp3.com. 

   

If you've ever tried importing sounds into Flash, you know that you can only

import .wav files.  So how do you get mp3s in there?  Well, first open the

mp3 you want to import into winamp. 

   

Now press Ctrl P, which will open up the preferences.  It should be a little

window, with "Nullsoft Winamp - Preferences" on the top.  You should see a

little tree on the left, and in the big screen you should be focused on

"Input Plug-Ins". 

   

On the tree, click on Output.  In the main window, double click on "Nullsoft

Disc Writer Plug-In".  It will then present you with a tree asking you where

you want to save exported .wav files.  It's all becoming so clear now... 

   

Now simply push play on winamp.  You shouldn't hear any music, and the

timeline bar should be moving faster than usual.  That's what you want. 

It's exporting the .mp3 into a .wav.  Don't worry, it's not changing your

mp3 in any way. 

Note: Exporting entire mp3s in this way is unwise, because you'll end up

with a really big movie.  If you want a piece of an mp3, simply position the

timeline slider on winamp to the beginning of what you want to export, play

it, and then hit stop when you want to stop the exporting. 

   

Now you probably want to be able to listen to mp3s while you're working, so

be sure to go back to preferences and change everything back.  Just simply

click on the "Nullsoft DirectSound Plug-In" in the output window.  Then

you're all set.  You can now play your mp3s without exporting them into

wavs.  So we're halfway done.

    

Back to Flash.  With your movie open, go to File, then click on import. 

Find your exported .wav file, and import it.  Now you'll have to wait a long

time if you're importing a 40 mb .wav, so how about reading my note so that

you have a much smaller .wav (and therefor a smaller movie).  Anyway, with

it imported, open up your library (Ctrl L).  You should see your imported

sound.  Right click on it, and then chose Export Settings.  Under the

compression setting, change it from "default" to "mp3".  I'm not a sound

guru, so i don't mess around with the Bit Rate and Quality.

   

There you have it!  A real mp3 in flash!  Just remember to use it in

moderation.  I don't care how cool your site is, I'm not waiting 30+ minutes

for it to load just because you had to have Limp Bizkit's Nookie for

background music.  :) 

  






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