Web Audio Review: MP3 Sound Stream

NOTE: This is not a sales letter. This is a critical review and analysis of this web audio program.

What it is: MP3 Sound Stream is a web audio conversion program that lets you take a WAV or MP3 file, convert it into a high-quality SWF file, and link the result to a Flash controller button.

Computing Platform: Windows

Who sells it: Quentin Brown of Brisbane, Australia.

How it Works: There is no built-in recorder, so you must record your MP3 or WAV file outside of the program. You load that file into MP3 Sound Stream, choose a button (from a very wide variety of choices), and the program converts the audio to Flash SWF and links the chosen Flash button to it. Two SWF files are created (one for the button and one for the streaming audio clip).

Web Audio Advisor Review:

I have to say that MP3 Sound Stream is my favorite Flash audio converter program to date. It's very straight-forward and easy to use. The interface is uncluttered and easy to follow. It has a lot of options you can set, lots of buttons to choose from, and the final web audio sounds great. Except for a few minor inconveniences, this program is a real winner.

On the plus side, there are the wide variety of options you can set. For example, every other web audio converter program gives you a Flash-based controller file with buttons to control your audio. MP3 Sound Stream does too, however, you can also choose "Bare output" and just get the converted audio with no controller. This way you can place audio on a page to start playing immediately. You can also choose if the sound should start immediately or not, as well as whether it should loop repeatedly or just play once.

I also like that the preferred format for the audio you must import is "uncompressed WAV" (8 or 16 bit, mono or stereo). This way you get the best sound at the start, and great sound at the end. You CAN import MP3 audio, but I found the the program didn't always accept my MP3s. WAV has better quality anyway, so no complaints here.

No other web audio program comes close to the wide variety of button controllers available on MP3 Sound Stream. The program has 47 different button styles in the standard set from a simple on/off toggle button, to their "control freak" model with the ability to adjust Left/Right balance, volume, and looping features. You can also download extra sets of controllers to bring the grand total to 65 different button options! (If you can't find anything you like in all those choices, then you're way to picky ... but the designers will be happy to design buttons for you.) I particularly liked the buttons that showed the total time length of the audio and the "count-up" progress towards that total time.

Where I feel the program suffers slightly is in the final step of incorporating the audio into your site. The program converts your audio and creates three files: a controller file (SWF), an audio file (SWF), and an HTML page that incorporates the controller so you can preview the audio playback. There is no FTP feature built into the program, but you can find the output SWF's on your hard drive (destination can be defined in Options), and FTP them up to your site yourself. However, for the actual coding to use the files for your web page, you'll need to view and copy the code from the given HTML page and paste it to your desired file. This is not hard to do if you are able to handle simple web design operations. (In fact, the designers have posted instructions at the program website.) I just find it to be a cumbersome extra step in an otherwise user-friendly piece of software.

MP3 Sound Stream is close to being a "complete" web audio solution. What's missing to achieve that level? If they included an OPTION to record directly into the program in addition to importing WAV's, gave you an output screen of the HTML code to easily copy to your site, and included an OPTION of FTP-ing the files to your location of choice ... THEN this would be a "complete" web audio solution!

Yet even without these pieces of the puzzle, MP3 Sound Stream is a great value all the way around ... reasonably priced, lots of features, bunches of controller buttons and great sounding Flash audio results. Highly recommended!

Cost: $39.95 (one time fee)

Website: MP3SoundStream.com