Internet and Businesses Articles

When it comes to placing audio on your website there are Ten Commandments you absolutely must follow. Break one of these Commandments and you can watch your website drive visitors away faster than the speed of sound. Fortunately, if you follow the Ten Commandments you can get people to stay at your website longer, inquire about your product or service more often, and even buy more of what you are selling. Doesn’t that sound good?

So without further ado, here are the Ten Commandments you must follow when placing audio on your website.

Commandment #1

Don’t set your audio to play automatically when people arrive at your website. Your visitors all have different computers with different speakers, some have the volume turned all the way up, some are already listening to music, some don’t even have speakers to begin with. If you start playing your audio automatically you risk losing potential customers. It’s much easer to leave a website or hit the back button then it is to search around for how to turn off your audio. One exception to this Commandment is the use of pop-up windows. Pop-up windows can be closed by the visitor yet they still leave them at your website. The same goes for exit pop-ups, these windows can be very effective at grabbing the visitors attention, although some people may not like it, it has proven to be very successful in some uses.

Commandment #2

Sounding like a Pro! You must have professional sounding audio on your site. Anything else will make you look like an amateur. If you are showcasing your own poetry, or telling a personal story, or marketing yourself, then you should use your own voice. But, if you are trying to sell something and your voice doesn’t quite cut it, then have a professional voiceover person record your audio. It will make all the difference. You can find a list of affordable voiceover professionals at www.web-audio-reviews.com/voiceover.htm

Commandment #3

When using audio to sell or promote, keep it short! Long audio messages have their place online and rarely are they on the main page of a website. Keep your messages short, concise, to the point, and easy to follow. This can make all the difference in your audio message. Try to keep your promotional audio message around 30 to 90 seconds. Commercials are only 30 seconds and get their point across very well, follow their lead and do the same thing.

Commandment #4

Be prepared! If you or someone else is recording your audio then write out a script. Write out a complete word for word script, practice it out loud and change it as necessary. If you just “wing it” then it will sound like it. Have others listen and critique your script before you record it. Fine tune your script by removing unnecessary wording, trimming down the overall length, and wording it for maximum impact.

Commandment #5

When recording your own audio, smile! It will come across in your voice. But remember, if you don’t sound like a pro even when you smile, then get one!

Commandment #6

Don’t overload your site with audio. If you have too many audio buttons to choose from most people will choose none. Whereas when you only have a few audio buttons on your website it will encourage people to listen to your audio message. A single audio button done right is usually enough to get your point.

Commandment #7

Use music! Using music in addition to your voice will make your audio sound 100 times more professional and engaging. Add some easy listening intro music that fits the theme of your site, even sound effects if done right can make a tremendous difference in the way your message sounds. Remember to use music that is royalty free or music you have rights to use. Placing your favorite Beatles song on your website could get you in trouble. You can find several royalty free music resources here. www.web-audio-reviews.com/royalty-free-music.htm

Commandment #8

Have a point! This may sound obvious, but many people place audio on their website just because they can and for no other reason. No one cares about how fancy your audio is if it doesn’t have much of a point to it. Have a purpose and reason for using audio.

Commandment #9

Tell people to listen to your audio! Just having an audio button on your website isn’t good enough. You need to tell people what they will hear, what it’s about, how long it is, and where to click to listen. Don’t assume people will figure it out on their own, people need to be told what to do online, and the same goes for telling them to listen to your audio. Also, by telling visitors the length of your message they won’t be afraid to listen to it because they will know how long it is. Research has shown that sometimes people will not listen to an audio message in fear that it may be too long. If it is a long message then tell your visitors so they will be prepared for an hour long audio message.

Commandment #10

Test your audio! Don’t just place audio on your website thinking it will increase sales. Test it out, get opinions from your visitors, friends, and family, and then do split testing. Find out if the sales are greater with your audio. If you don’t split test your site with different audio messages and without audio then you will never know if it’s helping or hurting your website.

To place streaming audio on your site, as well as find a wealth of information, voiceover professionals, hosting, tools, and more, visit http://www.web-audio-reviews.com

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Internet Marketers love audio. You can’t blame them. They used to have to spend weeks, or even months, writing an ebook to have something to sell. Now, they just pick a hot topic, interview an expert for a couple of hours with the recorder turned on, and Bam! They’ve got a hot new information product.

The audience for these products seem to love audio too. It’s certainly quicker than reading a book. Because it can be produced more quickly, information can be more timely. One late summer day in 2005, Google changed how it ranked AdWords. That same night a teleseminar on the subject drew thousands of listeners.

Audio is Great Except for One Problem

Audio looks to be a perfect medium for online learning and communication except for one thing. A lot of folks don’t know how to listen very well. Not the kind of listening you need to do if you’re going to learn something.

Check with participants right after a teleseminar ends and they say they learned a lot. Ask them about it a few days later and most report they’ve forgotten exactly what it was they learned. That’s true whether it’s a seminar, a podcast, or even an audio download. Even when they have the file, most people don’t listen more than once.

Listening to learn and to retain is actually a skill that has to be developed. It’s not hard. You just have to know a few tricks. Once you do you’ll be able to hang on to the key parts of what you hear. You’ll remember new knowledge so you can apply it to your own marketing and business efforts. You’ll start listening to learn and earn more.

5 Tips For Honing Your Listening Skills So You Can Learn More

Prepare. Give some thought in advance to what the speaker will talk about. Try to determine what you know and don’t know about the subject. That way, when the presentation starts, you’ll be ready to pick up on those areas you don’t know as much about. Download and review any material provided in advance. If you have time, search for related material online and scan to get more background on the subject.

Focus. Once the speaker starts, concentrate. That’s actually not as easy as it sounds. Our minds think 4 times faster than a presenter speaks. That’s why it’s so easy to find your mind wandering while listening. Three quarters of the time your mind is twiddling it’s virtual thumbs! You’ve just got to keep bringing your attention back to the subject. Also, make sure you eliminate distractions. Instead of gripping a phone handset, use a speakerphone or headset. If you’re attending a seminar, make sure to sit where you can see and hear clearly.

Find Your Purpose. Determine both before and during the presentation what makes it important TO YOU. It needs to have a purpose – a concrete, vivid reason. You won’t have much motivation to listen without one. If it turns out you can’t find a purpose, stop listening. Go on to something that uses your time more effectively.

Look for Patterns. Visualize the patterns of organization in what’s being said. It will help you remember key points. Patterns are easier to recall than isolated facts. For example, how does the speaker begin and end each topic? With a brief summary of the main idea? What about details or examples? Are they used to make certain points? Can you easily see the relationship between the points presented? It’s likely you’ll find more organization in prepared speeches and seminar presentations than teleconferences, particularly interviews. But presenters almost always start with some idea of structure even if they drift off course. Do your best to find it.

Take Notes. It’s true what they told you back in school. Taking notes enhances listening and recall. When you take notes, though, don’t go overboard with detail or they just become another distraction. Tie them to the patterns and structure you find. Not everything is equally important. Be selective. Think of your notes in terms of review. The one thing that really helps recall is what almost no one does: review notes after the presentation and in the future.

Listen Well and You’ll Learn and Earn More

Listening to learn is a skill you have to develop. You’ve just seen five tips that will help. Once you do you’ll be able to more easily remember what you hear in teleseminars, podcasts and audios. You’ll remember new knowledge so you can apply it to your own marketing and business efforts. You’ll start actively listening and you’ll learn and earn more.

Ronald A Murphy is a Copywriter and Graphic Designer specializing in Direct Response and Internet Marketing. Murphy writes and designs sales letters, direct mail packages, inserts, web sales pages, direct email, newsletters for marketing, Internet articles, white papers, and other sales focused materials. He provides expertise to clients serving financial, business, technology, health, opportunity and fundraising markets.

For more information on copywriting and marketing, visit his site at RAMurphy.com. There you can subscribe to his newsletter, R A Murphy’s Copywriting and Design Tips. You can also read Murphy's Blog on Copywriting and Design for Internet and Direct marketing at RonaldAMurphy.com.

Copyright 2005 Ronald A Murphy. Permission to reproduce this article in any form is freely given so long as the text and this credit box stays as is without modifications.

Many customers in today's online business world are shopping around online for a reason; either they are too lazy to go to stores, do not like the masses of people, or they might just want to shop in the comfort of their home. What ever the reason might be, we can conclude that they are not in a store, but rather they are on your site. Just because your businesses is online doesn't mean that you can't conduct your business like that of a normal store. Compare your site to a clothing store in a mall for example. When the customer comes in, a sales representative normally comes to the door and asks if they need help. A web site doesn't normally do this, but you can if you want to. Record an audio clip that not only includes a sales pitch and introduction but also a site map that includes the important parts of the site. Not only are you getting personal with your customer, you are also pointing them in the direction of your product. Here are a few tips to keep in mind about audio clips:

#1 - Make Sure They can Turn it Off

There is nothing worse than listening to someone drone on on how they made massive amounts of money, and so can you! If you do include audio with your site, make sure you include a stop button. You might think you sales pitch is interesting and informative, but the customer might not. They might also want to play it over again to catch a part they missed, so make sure to include a play button as well.

#2 - Include a Picture

Maybe is just cause we watch TV alot but when we hear audio, we want something to look at. Take a picture of yourself and put it above your new stop and play buttons. It will add to the personal touch and also give the people something to look at while they listen to you.

#3 - Don't Take too Long

People have short attention spans so introduce yourself and your site, make your pitch, point them in the right direction, and then stop. You can always include more audio files with success stories elsewhere on your site.

#4 - Don't be too Loud

It is hard to know how loud to make your clip but it is better to be soft than to be loud. The user can always turn up the volume if they are interested. Adding a volume "slider" next to your play and stop buttons and below your picture will round off the audio clip look.

So there you have it, four great pieces of advice when looking to add an audio file to your site. If you can do it yourself, put one up there, but if you can't, get someone to help you. It is relatively easy and so it should not be too expensive. Good luck and be creative!

Jeffrey Abbott is a proud editor of the Science of Cycling website. They have many articles relating to the science behind the sport of cycling.

Articles relating to bike information: http://www.scienceofcycling.com/

I love spoken-word audio. I've been listening to seminars, lectures, and books on tape for years.

I love downloadable audio. Missed that teleseminar you signed up for? Just download the MP3 (or Real Media, or Windows Media, or QuickTime) file and it's almost as good as being there--maybe better.

But I really dislike streaming audio of the kind you can't download, and I find the new trend to use Macromedia Flash to provide audio clips online particularly irritating.

Why? Because I don't want to have to sit in front of my computer screen to listen to something. The only time I might want to do that would be if I were taking notes, or if the recording were a set of instructions on how to do something with a computer program. When I'm at my computer, I'm usually busy doing something that requires concentration (like writing).

I want to do my listening when I'm away from my computer and doing something that occupies my hands but not my full attention. In my case, that's primarily when I'm driving and when I'm cooking. And while I could theoretically prop my laptop on the passenger seat while I drive, I can't (yet, anyway) get a connection to the Internet while going 65 miles an hour. Besides, the car stereo has much better speakers than the laptop does.

The whole point of podcasting, after all, is to allow people to download and listen at their leisure, the same way RSS news aggregators let you collect blog headlines and other news at your own convenience. These streaming-only audio clips (.ram as well as Flash) don't give you that option. And that snarks me off.

And yes, I do realize that people want to protect their intellectual property and that's one reason they use non-downloadable streaming audio. I respect that. But I don't want to sell or otherwise redistribute their material. I just want to listen to it on my time. To users of streaming audio I pose the question: would you rather I just didn't listen? Would you really prefer that I just miss your marketing message altogether?

Because that's what was happening before I thought of a way around the Flash barrier.

In May I made one of my best investments of 2005 and bought a $10 mini-stereo audio cable. I plug one end into the laptop's headphone socket and one end into the cassette recorder's microphone port. Or I plug the other end of the cable into the microphone port on the laptop and record it onto my computer to play on my new MP3 player. (My current preferred recording software is the freeware program Audacity, available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ in versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.)

It works like a charm. I now have access to all kinds of things I never would have listened to before, all thanks to a simple cable.

Now all I need is one of those car stereos with an MP3 player built in.

(c) 2005 Sallie Goetsch

"Author-izer" Sallie Goetsch started helping other people with their writing at the age of nine. Before going into business for herself, she translated, directed, produced, and was sometimes forced to act in Greek and Roman plays, as well as founding an electronic journal. Her FileSlinger(TM) Backup Blog (http://www.fileslinger.com/blog) was recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle. Visit http://authorizer.fileslinger.com to learn how to become an author whether or not you can write.

Adding streaming audio to your web site can help you enhance the message you send to your customers and can serve as a wonderful confidence-building tool. In the past, audio was used primarily as a decorative effect, but advances in technology and the increased use of the internet by consumers have made it easy for you to add streaming audio to your web site and create a personal bond with your clientele. You can also add streaming audio to your newsletter or blog for a personal touch that will keep the interest of your readers and subscribers.

Streaming audio can be used in welcome messages placed on the first page of your web site. Adding a personal welcome message to your readers and explaining some of the features they can explore on your web site is an excellent way to enhance the experience of the customer. You may also want to add streaming audio to your web site in the form of testimonials from satisfied customers. Most computer users have the capability to hear audio messages and will find it a refreshing change from monotonous text that may or may not hold their interest. Your newsletter or blog will benefit from the use of streaming audio as well. You may want to add a new helpful tip in audio form each day to your blog, or include audio product updates in your newsletter.

Adding streaming audio to your web site, newsletter, or blog is no longer a frivolous addition. It is not difficult or expensive to add audio to your web site and you will find that your customers enjoy this new feature. The audio content should be conversational and pleasant, and sound as natural as possible. You can write down the topics and points you would like to cover in your streaming audio message, but record your message as if you were speaking to friends and family. Adding streaming audio to your web site, newsletter, or blog is the perfect way to give your customers a personal message that will give them confidence in your sincerity and integrity.

For more valuable resources for growing a successful business head over to http://www.redrockva.com today!

This was news to me. It might be news to you too:

MP3 is NOT free to use if you're an online publisher. BUT - let me be clear - there are some opt-outs. It appears you don't have to pay any license fees if:

It's for personal use or non commercial reasons (not generating income). OR - if your company revenue is below $100,000 a year.

Now, these rules might change of course. Make sure to check these yourself and ensure you're up to date by visiting mp3licensing.com for full details.

However, when there's alternatives I don't see why anyone publishing audio online would want to or should publish in MP3 format.

So what's the best alternative? Well - it's all about OGG.

Okay, a slightly strange name. Here are the facts:

OGG is just as high quality as MP3.

OGG is just as quick to download as MP3.

OGG is open source - this means no fees due, ever (for full details on OGG visit vorbis.com).

The only current downside of OGG is that it isn't as widely supported by audio players as MP3.

BUT - I'm convinced this will change. As more and more online publishers say "No!" to paying hefty and unnecessary licensing fees, more and more audio will be published online in OGG format, meaning more and more audio players will support OGG.

So if you're currently publishing audio online in MP3 format, what does this mean for you?

Well, my advice is to convert your audio from MP3 format to OGG format, without delay.

Now I'll admit it can be a little bit time consuming, but once it's done, it's done. And would you rather make a little effort to convert your audio, or pay licensing fees year after year?

So how do you convert MP3 to OGG? Easy - use an audio converter. You'll find a ton of high quality free ones by searching download.com and also sourceforge.net. My personal favorite is WinLAME (awful name, great software) from winlame.sourceforge.net.

So use WinLAME to convert your MP3 to OGG. Pay attention to keeping the MP3 and OGG files around the same size (I've actually found OGG files to be slightly smaller). And then compare the audio quality. I'll be surprised if you can find any difference between them.

Now this conversion process might take a while. For about six hours of audio it took my computer at least a couple of hours of processing time. But I just left the computer to it and came back when it was done. You can even leave this process running overnight if you have a lot of audio to convert.

Now here's an extra snippet you need to pay attention to:

Some OGG audio has "Tags". Tags are extra information inside the audio file which often includes the name of the song for example.

At this time (this will probably change) some audio players have trouble playing OGG with "Tag" information in them. So take the tag information out. It's easy and doesn't affect the audio in any way - here's how you do it:

Download "MP3Tag" from mp3tag.de/en/. Install the software, and start it up. Then just choose to "Remove All Tags" from your OGG files. This process takes literally two minutes but is very important.

Now after you've converted and de-tagged the OGG audio, you'll need to upload it to your server of course.

Then you'll have to change all your download links. This is fiddly, but needs to be done. For example - you would need to change all your links from:

www.domain.com/folder/audio.mp3

To:

www.domain.com/folder/audio.ogg

Then test every download link to make sure it's working correctly.

Important Note: Don't forget about the audio you've got in Zip files too. You'll need to recreate those Zip files with OGG audio instead of MP3 audio and re-upload them.

If you're not sure where all the MP3 and Zip files are on your websites, here's an easy way to list them:

Now, this only works on Unix-based servers (which covers Linux servers, FreeBSD...etc - ask your web host if you're not sure)...

This is pretty advanced so don't do this if you're not comfortable with the process. Or ask your web host to do it for you if they're happy to do that:

You need to Telnet into your server and then type the following:

find . | grep mp3 > allmp3

Then type:

find . | grep zip > allzip

This will then give you two files on your server: allmp3 & allzip

Download these files and take a look at them in a text editor. They'll show you the path of every MP3 and Zip file on your server so that you can quickly and easily find which files you need to convert to OGG. Dead handy.

Okay - so after you've converted and uploaded the audio, you'll need to change the text around the download links. You'll need to take out any mention of "MP3" from your website.

I don't suggest replacing it with "OGG" on a sales page for example since that will probably confuse people. Just replace "MP3" with "downloadable audio" or "high quality downloadable audio".

And then on your download pages mention that the audio is in OGG format which is just as high quality as MP3 and just as quick to download. Then link to a couple of audio players that you know for a fact support OGG.

The audio players I personally mention are Winamp from winamp.com and Quintessential Player from quinnware.com.

Important Note About Winamp: As I write this only the Full version (not the Lite version) of Winamp supports OGG successfully. So make sure to tell your visitors to download and install that version. It's still free though so your visitors won't have to spend any extra money just to listen to your audio.

And that's pretty much all the steps needed to convert your published audio from MP3 to OGG, which can save you a small fortune in licensing fees without compromising audio quality or speed of download.

Louis Allport is the creator of over thirty (and counting) unique and high quality information products selling very successfully online.

He is directly involved with every step of the product creation and marketing process including finding the market, creating the content, building the marketing process and materials, as well as developing consistent and qualified traffic streams.

One of Louis' recent products reveals a proven four-step formula that can make creating best-selling online products a lot more predictable: http://www.createoffers.com/new/

My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.

In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children’s stories and offering them for download on the internet. The thing was, however, while I had someone to write the stories - my mother - and someone to market the stories – me, I knew nobody who knew about how to record the stories professionally. I knew it must be reasonably easy, since I only wanted to create an audio book containing speech.

I started doing research on Google - but all the articles I found contained so much technical gobbledygook – I was soon put off. So I went to my local music store for advice on what to buy. I decided to use my computer to create the audio books and this is what I bought:

1 microphone stand

1 pop-screen (that's a piece of material that is placed just in front of the microphone to stop your “Ps” from popping)

1 studio microphone

1 software program (Wavelab)

1 USB Audio/MIDI interface (TASCAM US 122 with phantom power)

1 pair of heaphones

It all came to 650 euros (800) dollars.

I connected my Audio/MIDI interface (this is basically a really good sound card in an external case) to my computer using the USB cable provided. I then set up my microphone and attached the microphone cable to the MIDI interface. After installing the software, I was ready to go.

The results have been great and I find Wavelab software powerful and incredibly easy to use.

Some Audio Book recording tips

I first get my entire copy ready before starting the recording. I pin the sheets of paper with the text that I am going to read in front of me onto the wall. Then, at about 8 inches away from the microphone, I start to talk. The more natural you can be the more interesting you will sound to your listeners. I found that the best thing to do is to stand in front of the microphone and make gestures in the same way as you would when talking to a close friend. If you stand there stiff like a statue, you'll come across in the same way in your recording.

Another thing that I like to do before starting the recording is to get myself into a really good mood. Again, this will add to the impact of your recording. I always listen to a few uplifting songs and get enthusiastic before starting. You should also try to make sure that you keep the same distance from the microphone.

And that’s it – I hope that this article will save you a little bit of time setting up your own home recording studio and I wish lots of success with your audio books.

The author of this article is Alan Twigg. My business is Playtime books, which offers new and contemporary audio books for the 3 to 10-year-old age group. You will find this site at http://www.playtime-books.com.

When it comes to music on the Internet, you have two legal choices: you can stream tracks, or you can purchase them as individual downloads.

Replay Music can record streamed songs from most applications, break them into individual files (either as WAV or 128- to 320-Kbps MP3 files) and even tag them with the correct song and artist info. It does this by taking a digital fingerprint of a song and comparing it with the information stored in its central server.

The program works with a variety of streams, including those from Napster, Rhapsody and Musicmatch that require a subscription. Replay also has built-in CD-burning controls, and it can burn CDs or send tracks to iTunes automatically.

With just one click, only Replay Music can record streaming music from these popular services and more:

* Napster™

* Rh------™

* Music M----™

* Y! Music Unlimited™

* Y! Launch ™

* AccuRadio™

(Legal note: Replay Music is not affiliated with any of these services, nor do we encourage violating any license agreements. We offer this list only for compatibility purposes.)

Tags Songs Automatically

Only Replay Music can automatically tag your recorded MP3s. Using proprietary song recognition technology, Replay Music identifies each song after it's recorded, and adds the artist, song title, album and genre information to each MP3 file. Not only can you record, but now you know what you're listening to!

Precise Track Splitting

Replay Music sports the most sophisticated track splitting algorithms on the planet. Besides just recording and tagging, each MP3 file contains the entire song -- no more, no less. Other recording programs may chop off the start or end of the song, or add unwanted noise.

Replay Music

www.deprice.com/replaymusic.htm

David D. Deprice is an expert when it comes to buying software for pennies on the dollar. To learn his dirty little tricks, visit http://www.deprice.com

A few years ago there was a revolution in recording technology. As computers became more powerful, they started to replace traditional tape recorders that were the heart of most recording studios. Today, computers designed for home use are powerful enough to emulate an entire recording studio, and can be used for everything from multitrack recording to audio editing and scoring music for videos.

This “democratizing” of recording techniques has opened up the entire recording industry to anyone with the proper software and hardware. With software packages costing a few hundred dollars and professional-quality audio interfaces costing less than $100, anybody can have a virtual recording studio in their home.

Some of the big names in the audio recording field are Cubase, ProTools, Sonar and Sound Forge. Each of these Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) can be used for multi-track recording and editing and have the ability to combine recordings with “virtual instruments”.

Virtual instruments are computer-generated sounds that can be played via MIDI. Traditionally, MIDI was used to send music data to hardware devices like keyboards and sound modules, but computers are now powerful enough to emulate sound modules. Instead of hooking up cables to an external device to play MIDI tracks, virtual instruments can be loaded into the computer’s memory to play any type of sound.

MIDI tracks can be combined with audio tracks and all of it played back in perfect synchronization. All tracks can be processed with effects like reverb and chorus, and the entire mix can be compressed for a professional sounding result.

Although professional sound recording packages can be fairly expensive, you can get your feet wet by trying out one of the shareware programs that are available. They will allow you to see the capabilities of digital recording, and if you want to develop your interests further you can later buy one of the professional programs.

Hans is editor of the Audio Howto Section of the http://www.selected-audio-reviews.com/

Although MP3 is the most popular format for encoding music, it is by no means the only one. There are two basic methods for compressing audio – lossless and lossy, and for each of these methods there are many formats.

Lossless compression means that none of the audio data is removed during compression. Lossy compression means that audio data is permanently removed from the audio file. Lossy compression results in smaller files, but there is no way to rebuild the audio data to its original format. MP3 is an example of lossy compression.

Lossy Compression Formats

There are many alternatives to MP3 when it comes to encoding audio files. Microsoft reportedly developed the WMA format to avoid the licensing costs associated with MP3. WMA files can be played with the Windows Media Player that is included with the Windows operating system as well as many other audio players. It features similar encoding rates to MP3 and similar file sizes.

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the format preferred by Apple and is used for its popular iTunes and iPod products. AAC files can be smaller than MP3 files because it uses more efficient encoding technology. A 96 kpbs AAC file is similar in sound quality to a 128 kbps MP3 file.

Ogg Vorbis is another type of lossy compression and uses .OGG as the file extension. It is an open-source product and unlike MP3, there are no patent restrictions on its use.

Lossless Compression

For the audio purist who insists on the best quality sound possible, lossless compression offers CD quality sound. The tradeoff is larger files sizes – while MP3 can compress audio in the range of 80% - 90%, lossless compression typically compresses the file by half.

Popular lossless formats include FLAC, Monkey’s Audio, and SHN (Shorten). These formats are supported by many audio players and are popular for archiving CD collections as well as for trading music.

You are free to publish the above article in your ezine or website, provided the credit is given to the author and a hyperlink (HTML clickable) is given the author.

Hans is editor of http://www.selected-audio-reviews.com

Digital media is everywhere you look. Music and video production have made it to the grass roots level thanks to the affordability and widespread use of powerful computers.

Inexpensive digital video cameras are widely available, and older analog video cameras can be connected to a computer through a video card to download movies to the computer for editing, storage, and distribution to friends and relatives over the internet.

It has become fairly easy to edit your own videos, and there are many software packages available aimed at the amateur. The Windows operating system has its own video editing package called Windows Movie Maker that allows you to produce professional-looking videos.

As you explore this exciting new world, you will inevitably come up with the need to edit the audio portion of your video file. The sound quality of most video cameras is not great, so you may want to process the sound or replace it all together with music or voice-overs.

It is very easy to separate the audio from the video. Free software packages that do this task include Windows Media Encoder from Microsoft (if you are working with WMV video files) and VirtualDub (if you are working with AVI files). Either of these programs (and many others) allow you to save the audio portion of video file quickly and easily.
Once you have your audio file, you can process it for noise reduction, bring up the volume, add music or do any digital magic to it that you desire.

With many video editing packages, however, it isn’t necessary to split the audio to a separate file. Even simple packages like Windows Movie Maker have basic audio editing functions, and you can add separate music or voice tracks and mix all of them together.

If you have a particular audio file that you would like to use in your video (maybe a special effect or a voice over that you have recorded separately) simply add that file to the list of media to be included in the video. Other media formats can be separate video files, picture files or graphics.

The audio file can be placed anywhere on the time-line, and you can use the same file many times without requiring any extra storage space on your computer. For precise placement, zoom all the way into your timeline and place the audio exactly in sync with the video. That’s it! You are well on your way to making professional-looking videos!

Hans is editor of the Audio Howto Section of the http://www.selected-audio-reviews.com/

Are you a website developer looking to establish a long-term relationship with a web content provider that could make money over the long-term for both of you? Have you considered becoming an expert in the providing of website audio content -- in webcasting and podcasting? Knowing how to present web audio and how to manage such a site can be your key to making money over the web.

It is hard to pick up a periodical about the web these days without coming upon an article about the ever increasing use of substantive audio content in websites. Webcasting and podcasting are the rage. These websites can make money through banner ads, click-throughs, and charging for downloads of audio content.

An audio-based website can include, for instance real-time streaming of a radio talk show or an interview. It can also contain archived materials, such as past shows, the equivalent of books-on-tape, and the like.

A web site developer can team up with the audio content provider, using cost and revenue sharing in order to make the enterprise beneficial to both.

The success of such a venture can be heightened by the use of low-cost audio. For instance, the audio could consist largely of streaming or recorded conversation about hot topics in international affairs, national politics, the economy, and trends and issues in our ever-changing culture, philosophy, and religious expression.

The likelihood of success can also be heightened if the format involves the same basic co-hosts, with the occasional invited guest, where the co-hosts are knowledgeable, clear-speaking, with a sense of humor; but who also often find themselves on opposite sides of the issue under discussion. The spark of life attracts the visitor.

And believe me, there are audio content providers with in-demand audio ready to team up with the right web developer. I know, because I am co-host of the US Virgin Islands-based and currently broadcast-based talk radio program known as Island Insight, with my co-host Randall Scott Johns. We are ready to move on to the web with live, streaming conversation, as well as archived shows. There must be others out there as well, ready to provide you with the content you need.

So, get ready for the future, for the future is now. Get the word out that you know how to do it and you are ready to design a high-quality product. Be a part of the future, and have fun doing it.

Ned Jacobs is an attorney in St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands, and can be found at edwardjacobs@yahoo.com, or at 7 Church Street, Christiansted, St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands 00820; 340-773-3322; fax 340-773-2566.

The internet, it's a whole world of information and entertainment, but every day it fills up just that extra bit more with complete trash. At every corner, popups, banner ads, viruses, spyware, the list goes on, well I've had enough and I'm sure you share my opinion.

So, I hear you ask, what does the rubbish online have to do with internet radio. Absolutely nothing! It's a complete opposite. Back in November of 2004, every evening I sat at home bored to death writing English essays and completing Maths papers, and when I wasn't doing that you'd be guaranteed to find me plonked in front of the TV watching whatever rubbish the BBC scheduler had decided to inflict upon me that night, and don't even think about mentioning a social life, I didn't have an iota.

What changed? Later that month I overheard a friend talking about a radio show he regularly presented online, so I decided to have a listen. Well I enjoyed the show, but then I would, as would anyone hearing someone they knew as part of a broadcast, the strange thing was I enjoyed EVERY piece of music that was played. Now before then I was totally hooked on dance music, I just wouldn’t listen to anything else, every time ‘Top of the Pops 2’ came on TV I’d change channel, any hint of 80’s music and I’d be out of the room like a shot. I’d been converted without any explanation as to how.

However, there was something even stranger to follow. The station I had tuned into was an AMATEUR station made up of DJ’s of all ages using their own talents and equipment to broadcast from around the UK & USA. Notice I stress the word amateur. Well, I kept listening for a while and it just kept getting better and I’m not joking. For the first time I was enjoying every bit of music I heard. My collection of dance CD’s sat in the corner getting dusty and still, to this day haven’t had the need to touch it.

But it wasn’t just my music taste that had been changed by this experience, it was my whole life. I got involved, the usual shy me suddenly became part of an online family, the social flame inside me lit up for the first time. I was taking part, meeting new people and above all enjoying it! So what are you thinking now? Maybe that this article’s just become an advert? Well in a way, yes, that’s true. I’ve got so much out of this experience that I felt it was about time I spread the word, you just can’t keep something so good to yourself.

So what am I doing now? Well, as I said, I got involved. Since way back in November I’ve had a go at presenting and production, and met more people than you could shake a stick at. Right now as I type this article I sit listening to the station that started this all off, and chatting to new friends I would never have met without this fantastic creation. So thanks to Marconi, Faraday, whoever it is that came up with combination of radio and the internet, it really is the best thing since sliced bread!

If you’re surfing the net or doing chores about the house, give it a try, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Internet Radio, the clearing in the deep dark forest that is the WWW.

Andrew Bonney

Resources:
The station that made my life so much better, still thriving and growing each day: http://www.offthechartradio.co.uk The people who make Internet Radio so much easier and accessible, you can even start your own station: http://www.live365.com

There are just a few audio compression formats out there, just like there are only a few image compression formats (you may have heard of them: JPG, GIF, BMP). Two of the most popular audio formats are WMA, or Windows Media Audio, and MP3 (Short for MPEG, Moving Pictures Experts Group, Audio Layer 3). WMA is the older audio format, produced by Microsoft, to work with Microsoft's Windows media player. The WMA compression format was designed specifically for this format, and thus can not be converted to other audio formats.

The audio quality of WMA and MP3 audio formats tends to be noticeably different. WMA is a decent quality audio format when streaming at phoneline speeds (maybe 30kbps or so). At such speed WMA almost reaches an FM level of audio quality, although not quite. At 128kbps, Microsoft claims the WMA is nearly CD-quality, although many would deny this. WMA, however, is not to be completely looked over. The compression provides relatively small audio files and they require less processing power to execute. It thus retains a deminishing niche as MP3 has become more popular and widely used.

The MP3 audio compression was developed in Germany in 1991 by the Fraunhofer Institute. MP3 typically provides higher quality sound than WMA because it uses perceptual audio coding to compress CD-quality sound by a factor of 12. As a result, MP3 has become almost the universal standard among audio usage and broadcasting. It provides CD-quality sound at reasonable compression sizes and high streaming speeds. Watch out, however, at low bitrates, as MP3 quality will likely suffer.

Bradley James is a senior editor at SciNet.cc, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on MP3 and WMA audio formats, please visit our http://www.scinet.cc/articles/wma-vs-mp3/wma-mp3.html.

In the world of digital audio, there are two types of cable to choose from; optical cables which use light to transmit signal and digital coaxial cable. These audio cables will enable your home theater system to transmit digital data between components. This will provide you with superior sound quality over typical RCA audio cables.

How Digital Coaxial Cable Works

Digital coaxial cables employ the same principles as other coaxial cables. The inner conducting layer is surrounded by an outer conductor as well as the rubbery insulating layer outside the cable. The digital signal is sent through the inner conductor as it travels between components. During the course of its transmission, the signal routinely comes in contact with the outer conductor. The outer conductive layer is created with materials that act as a reflector for the signal, thereby bouncing it back off of its surface. The signal will continue to reflect within the confines of inner conductor until it reaches the receiving component.

Dedicated to Digital Audio

Digital coaxial cable has only one purpose; to deliver digital audio between components. This is in complete contrast to RF coaxial cable which transmits both video and audio along the same path. As you may suspect, dedicating the entire bandwidth of the cable to sending only digital audio has excellent ramifications for your home theater’s sound quality. This practice results in greater signal fidelity between the transmitting device and the receiving component. Greater signal fidelity means that the sound you hear from your home theater speakers will be truer to the way the sound was originally recorded.

Benefits of Digital Coaxial Cables

Digital coaxial cable also has another benefit related to its dedication to digital audio. In the manner that signal transmission usually takes place, the digital signal from the source, a DVD for example, is sent to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The signal is converted to analog and sent through the given cable where it reaches the receiving component on the other side. This component uses an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to reconstruct the digital signal as closely as possible. During this process, errors and variations can be introduced to the signal resulting in audible artifacts and distortions that diminish your home theater’s sound quality.

Unlike with other audio cables, digital coaxial cable can transmit digital signals along its length without the need to convert to analog. Digital coaxial cable is capable of by-passing this process and delivers a cleaner signal to your home theater receiver.

Applications of Digital Coaxial Cables

Connections for digital coaxial cables can be found on everything from DVD players to home theater receivers. If it uses digital audio, then chances are there is a manufacturer who has made that component with digital coaxial cables in mind.

Jon Martin is the Webmaster of the http://www.home-theater-accessories-resource.com/. The Home Theater Accessories Resource is your guide to home theater accessories.

This article came from the http://www.home-theater-accessories-resource.com/connectingcomponents.html section of the site.

Have you ever wrestled with a set of instructions, but then got so frustrated with it all that you threw them aside in a fluster and tried to figure out how to do it… yourself?

Resulting in…Making a great big mess of it all?

Similarly, if you really want to use Web Audio the right way, the way that WORKS, then you need to know what DOESN'T work.

Here's what many people do, pretty systematically… to hinder their marketing and audio responses:

1. Speaking into the microphone without a care for what they're saying, how they're saying it and, without any regard to who's listening! That's pretty scary. Mumbling along without paying any attention to the small details. It's what could sink the hopes of many… FAST!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - Write out a little script. Then, rehearse it. After that, record it several times. Finally, choose the best of the lot and use it. See, I told you it was pretty simple.

2. Some feel that hiring a 'PROFESSIONAL' or 'DJ', to record the voice audio, is the way to go. Now, for some, that may seem a reasonable way out, but what's likely to happen is that the websites' PERSONALITY loses its authenticity. Somehow, most of us can detect when things seem out of sync. When things seem a little too… SLICK!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - If you really want to get someone else to do the voice audio for you, then make sure they've got a warm, natural personality that shines through in their voice. It'll win people over.

3. Sending the recorded audio message to your website, and then… FORGETTING ABOUT IT! Have you ever dialled a phone number, got an answer machine message that was either way out of date or just plain irrelevant? What an unprofessional image to portray. Well, that's why NOT attending to what's on your messages, could cripple you more than you'd know!

SIMPLE SOLUTION - Keep your audio updated! I'm not saying that you have to micro-manage it and change it every other day. But, keeping your messages fresh, alive and full of valuable, useful and usable information that addresses the needs of your audience… is what'll keep them loyal, attentive and eager to receive your future messages!

4. Leaving your audience mentally floating, not knowing what to do next. Have you ever experienced a scenario similar to this one: Whilst waiting on a train platform, an announcement is made to the waiting passengers as follows,

"due to a fault on the line, please expect further delays".

I'm in no doubt at all that this announcement would have left the passengers feeling concerned, confused and wondering what to do next. What the announcer should have taken the time to add is as follows,

"as we have not received any information from our control centre indicating the expected length of delay, you may like to consider hopping on bus number 19, leaving the bus stop adjacent to the station entrance in 7 minutes time. Otherwise, please continue to listen for further announcements, which we will endeavour to make every five minutes. Please also accept our sincere apologies for the delay and any inconvenience this may have caused you".

SIMPLE SOLUTION: People are silently begging to be told what to do next. If you can lead them to a specific outcome, they'll be putty in your hands! Whether it's instructions to go to a specific toll free number to get more information, or something they have to activate, like a membership number, whatever it is… tell them PRECISELY how to do it.

Web Audio, used correctly, will have a dramatic impact on the way in which your customers respond to you. They'll be so 'stuck' on your website and addicted to your audio messages, that you'll soon be sending out birthday cards to them!

FLASH AUDIO WIZARD has a simple in-built technology that'll give you the website personality you've always dreamed of. It's simple to use. It's easy to get started. Why not get your website 'speaking', today? Just visit www.FlashAudioWizard.com

Copyright 2004 Nick James

About The Author

Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 3 years Nick has sold in excess of ?1 Million of products and services. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week at: http://www.Nick-James.com New Product: http://www.FlashAudioWizard.com.

NUMBER 1 : INTERNET USERS REMEMBER WHAT THEY HEAR

Did you know that Internet users remember only 20% of what they read while remembering an amazing 70% of what they hear? Audio on your website will help your message stay with fresh your visitors for longer.

NUMBER 2 : AUDIO INCREASES SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Using audio to convey a personal message to entice visitors to subscribe to your newsletter will result in up to 400% more subscribers than using traditional subscription marketing methods.

NUMBER 3 : AUDIO WILL KEEP VISITORS ON YOUR SITE FOR LONGER

Using audio on your website helps to keep visitors on your site for longer. The longer visitors stay the more informed they are about your product and services and the more likely they are to buy your product or service.

NUMBER 4 : AUDIO ADDS CREDIBILITY TO YOUR WEBSITE

Adding your own voice to your website helps prospects identify with you personally, warming them to your products and services in a way that cannot be achieved by any other existing marketing technique and converting more prospects to buyers.

NUMBER 5 : AUDIO PUTS YOU MILES AHEAD OF YOUR COMPETITORS

While your competitors still hang around in the dark ages of Internet marketing, placing audio on your website gives you an enormous competitive advantage. Visitors will trust you more than your competitors and trust is the number one vital ingredient for making visitors part with plastic.

NUMBER 6 : AUDIO EHANCES EMAIL AND NEWSLETTER COMMUNICATIONS

Used in emails and ezines, audio allows you to communicate personally with your clients and subscribers, creating rapport and warming your market in a way not possible with text and graphics.

NUMBER 7 : AUDIO IS CHEAP

Basic streaming audio buttons can be put on your website for as little as $19.95. Even the most advanced solutions cost around the $97 mark! Considering the uumph these little audio buttons give your site, a once off payment of 97 bucks is not a lot to part with!

NUMBER 8 : AUDIO IS SIMPLE TO USE

You don't have to be a techie geek to put audio on your website. Most of the solutions out there require no html or flash know how at all. They are designed to be user friendly so even the technophobe should have no problem getting the job done quickly and easily!

What are you waiting for ... go add audio now!

Tracey Meagher is the founder of QuickandEasy Audio, a website that reviews all the latest resources and tools available for adding audio to your website. Visit http://www.quickandeasyaudio.com to receive free audio resources that will get audio on your website in less than 60 minutes! [Copyright 2005 QuickandEasyAudio ]

How Audio can Influence Sales

Audio can enhance your website by letting your visitor listen to your voice, which is the next closest form of marketing besides a face to face meeting.

Who can use Audio?

Anyone can use audio, it all depends how knowledgeable you are when it comes to designing your site. For those that need help there are plenty of tutorials on how to place audio on your site all over the internet.

Audio and Affiliate Programs-Cause a ripple effect.

One commonly used strategy is to have audio reviews of the different affiliate programs you are associated with.

Find a product that pays a decent commission, write up a review of the product that you are promoting, use your written review as a script. Record the script in either .mp3 or .wav file. Upload the sound file, the website, and your done!

Audio can Increase Conversion Rates

If you are going to use audio clips for the affiliate programs you’ve chosen to promote, you may very well find that using audio can definitely increase your conversion ratio.

Keep your Audio file as small as possible. One important part for you to keep in mind is the size of your sound file, if the file is to large it will take “forever” to download and the majority of web surfers are impatient. Try and keep your audio review to 60 seconds or under. This should allow your webpage and sound file to download at the same time.

Keep in mind that you can place an audio clip on your site or inside an ebook, some people like audio some don’t.

How Audio helps the visually impaired.

It all depends on your preferences, one benefit of using audio on your site is to accomodate the visually impaired.

Audio-Learn one step at a time.

Granted, creating an audio clip may seem a little confusing at first because you have to get familiar with the software you’ve chosen to use. But like most other tasks in life, practice makes perfect.

Audio-How is the file activated?

There are a couple of ways in which your visitor can activate the audio on your site. One is by clicking on a link, the other involves placing a small amount of code on your site that automatically downloads everytime you get a visitor to the page you’ve placed the audio clip on.

Audio-How about pop-up’s and popunders?

You can also create pop-up’s or pop-unders with an audio clip that downloads as the pop-up or pop-under window activates when your visitor goes to exit your site. An example of this would be to use your clip to encourage sign-up’s for your ezine.

Audio-Where can you get tutored on this subject?

There are many tutorials on the net that teach people how to create pop-up’s or pop-under’s, there are also software programs that make the creation process a whole lot easier. There are also plenty of audio recording software programs out there, some are fr**, others cost money.

Final Comments:

By no means am I encouraging you to place audio on every page of your site, leave some pages as just plain text, others with text and a picture, and then text, picture and audio. What works for me may not necessarily work for you, but it never hurts to test. You won’t know until you try.

Good luck,

Brian.

About The Author

Brian Holte is a freelance writer who owns http://www.theebookking.com He publishes a monthly ezine covering topics related to creating ebooks, he shows you what works for him in hopes of helping you.

publish1@telus.net

Gone are the days when putting audio on your website consisted of subjecting your visitors to gaudy musical fanfares and various clichéd sound effects. Fortunately, audio has now become a lot more sophisticated and new techniques that allow audio to be streamed have made it possible to use your own voice as a highly effective marketing tool.

Most visitors to your website will have computers with audio capabilities. Using your own voice, you can deepen the impact of your sales message and develop a stronger connection with your visitors. Many websites using streaming audio to promote and sell services claim that audio increases their conversion by as much as 300%!

Why is audio such an effective marketing tool? It’s simple really. It’s a well-known fact in consumer psychology that the more senses you engage, the easier it is to communicate a message and motivate a sale. Senses evoke emotion and emotions are memorable. When it comes to surfing the Internet, the sense of hearing is far more powerful than the sense of sight. Internet surfers remember only 20% of what they read, but remember an amazing 70% of what they hear. Visitors respond to your voice in way that cannot be achieved with words alone, no matter how great your copy is. Audio’s power comes from its ability to reinforce your message by engaging your visitor’s most powerful senses.

Listed below are some of the most powerful ways to use streaming audio on your website:

Introductions: Use streaming audio to introduce yourself, your website and some of your key products or services to your visitors. Doing this removes some of the anonymity of the web experience and helps develop trust between your and your prospect.

Testimonials: It’s a proven fact that testimonials that include a photograph appear more credible to visitors that those with text only. Testimonials that include text, a photo AND an audio note are the next best thing to having satisfied customers call your visitors and tell them personally how great your products are!

Assurances: Placing audio notes at important points in your website, such as order forms, or payment links, is an excellent way to reassure visitors about common concerns. Streaming audio can be use to explain the payment process, security issues, merchant account details and any other concerns visitors may have relating to your website.

Instructions: Streaming audio buttons allow you to quickly provide instructions to visitors. A great example of this can be found at http://www.ezinearticles.com. An audio note that explains exactly what you must do to make a successful submission supports each step of the article submission process!

Tips: Over 80% of web surfers will click on link offering a tip? Why? Because they know a tip is a short piece of useful information. Reading a tip is not like reading an instruction manual. It’s a chance to gain some information quickly. Provide an audio tip on your site each day and you’ll find people just can’t get enough of pressing that play button!

Teleconferences and Seminars : Streaming audio is a great way to provide your visitors with playback on seminars and teleconferences.

Thanks You’s: Create a streaming audio message to send in emails every time a client or prospect buys your product or service. Acknowledging a purchase personally is a fantastic way to build up customer loyalty and boost repeat sales.

Finally, a brief word of caution! Audio is an effective tool when used responsibly. Don’t hit your visitors with audio as soon as they arrive at your site. You never know where people are accessing from or what other sound may be running on their computers. I’ve read about visitors being really annoyed by audio that played without invitation because they were listening to CD’s or were sitting in their workplace. It’s important that visitors have control over the audio. A simple invitation to click is all it takes. You’ll be surprised at how many people are driven by curiosity and will feel compelled to click the play button. Also take time to prepare your message well. Try to animate your voice and inject some personality into your message by being conversational rather than formal. Most important of all, be confident and be yourself!

This article may be reproduced in its entirety only if unaltered and the resource box is included.

Tracey Meagher is the founder of QuickandEasyAudio.com, a website that reviews all the latest resources and tools available for adding audio to your website. Visit http://www.quickandeasyaudio.com to receive free audio resources that will help you add audio to your website in less than 60 minutes!

Ok, you've got your site built, you have traffic coming to it, a
good product at a reasonable price.... hmmm... what else do you
need?

What else could increase your conversion rate?

Audio!

All right I know what you're thinking... "Why should I go to all
of the trouble of adding audio to my web site?"

Because it can increase your sales by up to 35%!! That's why.

Adding streaming audio it isn't as hard as you have been led to
believe and you don't even have to pay a monthly fee either. You
can start with sound recorder (Pre-installed on every Windows
computer) and the free microphone that came with your computer.

Some of the things you can do with audio to enhance your site
are:

* Create audio greetings

* Create audio testimonials

* Narrate tutorials

* Create audio ezines

* Add audio files for your visitors to download

* Create audio articles

* Add your band's music clips as tempting teasers to get buyers

* Read children's stories

* Tell Jokes

* Sing...

* Add music as a background to your web site (Tastefully - please!)

This list goes on and on.

Let's quickly cover a couple of the items on the list and see
what the advantages are.

Create Audio Greetings:

Well, I think this one is fun. Don't you often wonder what that
"Guru" sounds like? Or even what a web master who has created
your favorite web tool or ebook?

Adding an audio greeting is actually about the easiest thing to
do if you want to improve your sales. For most web sites, when
done tastefully, the sales can jump up to 35%! People just trust
you more and feel like they know you a little better if they hear
your voice.

Also, excitement is contagious. If you are excited about your
product, ezine or membership site you can hear it in your voice
when you talk about it. SO CAN YOUR CUSTOMERS! And more
importantly, your potential customers.

Audio Testimonials:

What can I say about this compelling reason, but this... what
would be more believable to you - a web site with a bunch of
written testimonials or a web site where you can hear the actual
voices of current / previous purchasers explaining what benefits
they got from the product? How do you even know for sure the
written testimonials are real?

It's hands down the one with the audio.

All you need is Audacity (Which is free at http://audacity.com)
to edit down too long testimonials - actually, is there such a
thing as too-long testimonial? Maybe not - and the ability to
have customers send you .wav files and a small picture of
themselves.

NOTE: You can get a free script from Will Bontrager at
http://willmaster.com that will allow you to accept files from
your customers OR you can set up a seperate ftp account at
your server for customer uploads. See other articles in this
series to learn how to implement this.

Piece of cake!

There are a couple of other steps to adding the audio to your
site, but I will get to that in other parts of this article
series.

Create Audio Ezines:

Have you ever heard Jim Edwards "I Gotta Tell You" ezine?
(http://igottatellyou.com) Or watched the multi-media ebook and
ezine how-to tutorials in Epublishing Express?
(http://epublishing-express.com)

It is so much more compelling to hear someone explain exactly
what to do than read a dry ezine (No offense to all the other
thousands of ezine writers out there) or ebook (Ditto to you
ebook writers) and you learn much faster.

Did you know that you only retain about 10-15% of what you read
once? But that retention goes up to 60% if you hear it at the
same time and flies up to 80% for a multi-media presentation.

How many fewer customer service calls and emails would you get if
you customers were retaining 80% of what you were teaching them?
I can tell you... a lot!

Think of all the extra time you would have to promote your
business, create new products (Audio and multimedia products of
course!) Heck, even spend more time with your family and hobbies.

How much happier would your customers be if they were able to
duplicate your success and complete your tutorials, assignments,
or follow your direction?

Again - a lot! How many more of your customers would buy other
products from you if you were successful in teaching them or
helping them with your first product? I think you can see where I
am going with this...

So, know that you know how important audio is how do you get
started? The first thing you can do is go to
http://easy-web-site-audio.com and sign up for the free Audio
Tips Ecourse and get a new tip every three days on creative audio
uses.

That's a good start :)

Remember those audio testimonials?

Here are some other free resources for all of you ebook and ezine
writers to get you started: (Some long links may wrap)

Microsoft: http://microsoft.com (Free)

Additionally you can access lots of free content add-ons, tools,
and tutorials when you go straight to the media section on the
Microsoft web site.

Find it at Media Player v.9:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.aspx
(Free) Here you can upgrade to Media Player 9 (To store all of
your audio files you have made in the easy access audio library)
which is free.

Media Player 9 is the preferred media player for listening to
streaming audio along with Real Player which is also free.

There are a lot of add-ons for the program, especially you want
to get the one that converts your MP3s into smaller WMA files and
save space on your computer. (It is a free teaser, they will
probably try to get you to buy the full Plus! collection, but you
don't have to!).

Visit http://www.microsoft.com/plus for more information on the
PLUS! product if you think in addition to converting audio you
might want to let the kids play around with Media Player too. :)

Remember all that extra family time you are going to have since
you won't have hardly any customer service issues?

Real: http://real.com (Free)

Get the Real Audio player basic program which allows you to play
Real Audio formatted files. A lot of online content is in this
format.

Don't forget if you are adding Real Audio to your web site to get
the free "Producer" which converts other types of audio files (>
wav and .MP3 for example) into Real Audio files for uploading,
streaming, etc.

Producer Basic (Free):
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/basic.html

If you want to stream from your computer or server (Warning
advanced topic!) you can use the free Helix Server Basic. Helix
Server Basic (Free):
http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/servers/eval/mbps.html

Also use the free PresenterOne to add audio and video to your
PowerPoint presentations and stream them from your web site!
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/presenterone/index.html
(main page) and the free version is at:

http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/presenteronebasic/in
dex.html (Approx. 20mb) since it requires Producer (Real Audio
product with a free version see above) it includes it in the
installation.

So if you are thinking of enhancing your PowerPoint slides and
are going to download this, you don't need to download Producer
separately.

Shoutcast: http://shoutcast.com (Free)

Start your own radio station for free. And obviously link to it
from your web site and broadcast tutorial and educational content
on your niche topic. Free to record and free to broadcast.

Live365: http://www.live365.com (Fee)

You can also start your own radio station starting at only
$7/month.

Pirate Radio: http://pirateradio.com (Fee)

Purchase software for $29 one-time fee that will having you
broadcasting in about 1/2 hour.

Keep your eyes peeled for more audio/video/multi-media related
articles in this series. We will be talking about different types
of audio files, conducting interviews, recording tutorials,
adding audio testimonials to your web site, and more. :)

By the time we're done you will be an audio / video master!

"Techie" Teri Mramer is the busy web master at TreeFree Publishing, The Editor of Epublishing Express- The only ezine that teaches ebook and ezine publishing with screenshots and videos! http://Epublishing-Express.com Also author of "Easy Web Site Audio!" The Easy Web Site Audio tutorial! e-Manual comes with 15 how-to videos. Add audio to your web site in about an hour! http://Easy-Web-Site-Audio.com