What's the best way of playing audio on Mobile Devices from a web page?

Question

So lets assume we have a load of music files, mp3's most probably but we could re-encode them if it helps. We want as wide a range of people with mobile phones to be able to listen to these as possible via a website - bonus points if we can listen to a playlist (ie. several tracks one after the other).

Websites nearly always make use of Flash to play audio, but the full flash player isn't yet available on mobile. So:

• Do a wide range of mobile phones support playlist formats like XSPF? (http://www.xspf.org/)
• Can flash lite play audio and is it a sensible technology to use for a wide range of mobile devices?
• Do any popular phones support a javascript interface to their audio capabilities?
• What is the best way of playing audio on Mobile Devices from a web page?

Answer 1

You have to stream it. Maybe this will help...

Streaming sound

You could look into a "platform independent" language like Java, see J2ME

Answer 2

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any native format for embedded audio for most blackberry's that are along them same lines as flash, quicktime or Windows Media. They all require a plug-in to be downloaded first.

The iPhone, however, supports them.

Answer 3

There's no single, good solution. At this point you should resign yourself to picking out the major platforms you want to support, and research how best to implement a separate service for each. You'll be able to detect which device is connecting via the HTTP headers.

I'd suggest starting off with:

• iPhone
• J2ME (several versions to support many phones)
• Blackberry
• Window Mobile (generally no java - specific Windows Mobile app best)

This will capture a significant portion of the market. Keep in mind that the cellular carriers sell music and entertainment now, so they lock a lot of this stuff down on purpose - it's intentionally difficult to use their platform without paying them.

It's a difficult process, but if done well you can expect to capture a good chunk of the market.